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El doctor es trabajador y simpático.

El doctor es trabajador y simpático.
The doctor is hard-working and nice.
From Lesson 27:How, when, and why (cómo, cuándo, por qué)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about El doctor es trabajador y simpático.

How would I use the question word cómo to ask about the doctor's personality?
You would ask ¿Cómo es el doctor? In Spanish, pairing cómo (how) with the verb ser (to be) is the standard way to ask for a description of someone's traits. While it literally translates to "How is the doctor?", in English we usually translate this as "What is the doctor like?"
Why do we use es instead of está here?
Es comes from the verb ser, which we use to describe permanent characteristics or personality traits. Since being hard-working (trabajador) and nice (simpático) are core parts of the doctor's personality, we use es. We would use está (from estar) for temporary states, like being tired or busy.
What if the doctor is a woman? How does the sentence change?
You need to make the noun and the adjectives feminine to match. "The female doctor" is la doctora. For the adjectives, add an -a to trabajador to make it trabajadora, and change the -o in simpático to an -a to make it simpática. The new sentence becomes: La doctora es trabajadora y simpática.
Does simpático mean sympathetic?
No, this is a common false friend (a word that looks like an English word but has a different meaning). Simpático just means nice, friendly, or pleasant. If you want to say someone is sympathetic or understanding in Spanish, you would use a word like comprensivo.

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