Questions & Answers about El niño está aburrido.
Why do we use está instead of es here?
We use a form of estar for temporary states, conditions, or feelings. Because the boy is currently feeling bored, we use está. This is a very important difference in Spanish: if we used es (El niño es aburrido), it would change the meaning to 'the boy is boring' (a personality trait)! Why does aburrido end in an -o?
Adjectives in Spanish change their endings to match the noun they describe. Since el niño (the boy) is masculine and singular, aburrido ends in -o. If we were talking about a girl, we would change both the noun and the adjective: La niña está aburrida. Why is there an accent mark on the a in está?
The accent mark shows that the spoken stress goes on the final syllable. It also helps tell this verb apart from the word esta (without an accent), which means 'this' (as in esta casa, 'this house'). If we already know who we are talking about, can we just say está aburrido?
Yes! If it is obvious from the context that you are talking about the boy, you can drop el niño entirely. Spanish speakers drop the subject very often to sound more natural. Learn El niño está aburrido and more in Spanish
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