Learn Spanish (Spain): ¿Estás enfermo hoy?

¿Estás enfermo hoy?

Are you sick today?

Breakdown of ¿Estás enfermo hoy?

estar

to be (location/state)

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Questions & Answers about ¿Estás enfermo hoy?

Why do we use estás here instead of eres?

Both estar and ser mean "to be", but we use estar for temporary states or conditions, like how you are feeling right now. Since being sick is a temporary condition, we use estás.

Where is the word for "you" in this sentence?

In Spanish, the verb ending usually tells us who the subject is. The verb form estás specifically means "you are" (informal, singular). You don't need to include the pronoun tú, though you could say ¿Tú estás enfermo hoy? for emphasis.

What if I am asking a female friend if she is sick?

You would change the describing word (adjective) to match her gender. The word enfermo (sick) changes to enferma, so you would ask: ¿Estás enferma hoy?

Why doesn't the word order change to make it a question, like "Are you" instead of "You are"?

Unlike English, Spanish doesn't swap the verb and subject or add helper words like "do" to make a question. You just use the exact same words as a statement, raise your voice at the end when speaking, and put the upside-down question mark ¿ at the beginning.