Los zapatos negros son pequeños.

Breakdown of Los zapatos negros son pequeños.

ser
to be
pequeño
small
negro
black
el zapato
the shoe

Questions & Answers about Los zapatos negros son pequeños.

Why does negros come after zapatos?
In Spanish, adjectives (words that describe things, like negros) usually come after the noun they describe (zapatos). So instead of saying 'the black shoes', you say 'the shoes black' (los zapatos negros).
Why do negros and pequeños both end in -os?
Describing words have to match the noun they are talking about in both gender and number. Because zapatos is a masculine plural word, both negros and pequeños must also take the masculine plural ending -os.
Why do we use son instead of están here?
Son is the 'they are' form of the verb ser, which is used for physical descriptions and permanent characteristics. Since being small and black are core traits of these shoes, we use ser instead of estar (which we use for temporary states or locations).
How would this sentence change if there was only one black shoe?
Everything would become singular. You would say El zapato negro es pequeño. The word for 'the' changes from los to el, the verb 'is' becomes es, and the noun and describing words drop their final -s.

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