Learn Spanish (Latin America): El médico parece nervioso hoy, pero no lo está. - The doctor seems nervous today, but he is not.

El médico parece nervioso hoy, pero no lo está.

The doctor seems nervous today, but he is not.

Breakdown of El médico parece nervioso hoy, pero no lo está.

to be (location/state)

hoy

today

Questions & Answers about El médico parece nervioso hoy, pero no lo está.

Why do we need the word lo in the phrase no lo está?

In Spanish, when you want to replace an adjective that was just mentioned (like nervioso), you must use the neuter pronoun lo. While in English you can just say "he is not", Spanish requires this pronoun to stand in for the adjective so it translates literally as "he is not it."

Could I just drop the lo and say pero no está?

No, that would sound incomplete to a native speaker. Unlike English, which often drops the adjective at the end of a sentence like "...but he isn't", Spanish requires you to either repeat the adjective (pero no está nervioso) or replace it with lo (pero no lo está).

Why is it está and not es at the end of the sentence?

The verb must match the type of characteristic being described. Since being nervous today is a temporary state, we use estar. If the sentence were about a permanent trait, like being a nervous person in general, you would use ser. Keep in mind that the pronoun lo is used to replace adjectives for both ser and estar.

Why use parece here instead of se parece?