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¿Son ellas amigas o estudiantes?

¿Son ellas amigas o estudiantes?
Are they friends or students?
From Lesson 3:Plural pronouns and 'ser' (somos, sois, son)·Spanish (Spain)

Breakdown of ¿Son ellas amigas o estudiantes?

ser
to be
el amigo
the friend
el estudiante
the student
ellas
they (f)
o
or

Questions & Answers about ¿Son ellas amigas o estudiantes?

Why does the sentence say Son ellas instead of Ellas son?
In Spanish questions, it is very common to put the verb before the subject pronoun. So, just like in English, "They are" (Ellas son) flips to become "Are they" (¿Son ellas?).
How do we know to use ellas (feminine "they") instead of ellos (masculine "they")?
The word for friends here is amigas, which has the feminine -a ending. Because the group is entirely female, we must use the feminine pronoun ellas. If it were a mixed group or all males, we would use ellos and amigos.
If the group is feminine, why isn't it estudiantas?
Nouns that end in -e, like estudiante, usually don't change to an -a or -o depending on gender. They are neutral. To make it plural for any group (masculine, feminine, or mixed), you just add an -s to get estudiantes.
Why do we use son (from the verb ser) instead of a form of estar?
We use the verb ser to talk about identities, professions, and relationships. Since being friends or being students describes who these people are, we use son.

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