Learn Spanish (Spain): El médico está enfadado porque el problema es grande. - The doctor is angry because the problem is big.

El médico está enfadado porque el problema es grande.

The doctor is angry because the problem is big.

Breakdown of El médico está enfadado porque el problema es grande.

Questions & Answers about El médico está enfadado porque el problema es grande.

Why do we use está for the doctor but es for the problem?

In Spanish, both words mean "is", but they are used differently. We use está (from the verb estar) for the doctor because being angry is a temporary emotion or condition. We use es (from the verb ser) for the problem because being big is an inherent characteristic or description of that problem.

Why is it el problema? Shouldn't words ending in -a use la?

Usually, yes! However, el problema is one of the most common exceptions. Many Spanish words ending in -ma that come from Greek are masculine and use el. It is a great rule breaker to memorize early on.

Does grande need to match the masculine gender of el problema?

It already does! Adjectives that end in -e, like grande, are neutral in Spanish. They stay exactly the same for both masculine and feminine nouns. They only change when the noun is plural, becoming grandes.

Why does porque not have a space or an accent mark here?

When written as one word without an accent, porque means "because", just like in this sentence. If it were written as two words with an accent mark (por qué), it would mean "why", which is used for asking questions.