Ser o estar con adjetivos: animales en contexto

Mini-lección: ser/estar con adjetivos en contexto animal; 3 frases para corregir.

🇺🇸EnglishEN-US 🇷🇺РусскийRU

Dannis

2 min reading time

Animals Language Adjectives Verbs

Keywords:

ser/estar está negro es manso/bravo estar hecho polvo estar pez

Completa: "El toro ____ bravo; no es mascota."

Correct: 0/7

Hints for this Quiz

Think: breed and character are qualities by nature (ser), not a temporary state (estar).

Correct answer: es. "Bravo" here is an inborn quality of the breed/the animal; for permanent characteristics we use ser. In Spain there is even the term "toro bravo" (fighting bull), which highlights the animal’s nature. In short: ser → essential, stable traits; estar → state/result at a given moment.

Look for temporary states: "today calm", "after the walk exhausted" → both take estar. For the expression estar hecho polvo, see examples of colloquial expressions.

Correct answer: está / está. "Hoy está manso" = he is calm today (a temporary state). "Estar hecho polvo" is colloquial and means "very tired, exhausted"; for objects it can mean "wrecked, ruined" (literally "to dust"). General rule: states → estar.

Remember the rule: estar = state/result, ser = permanent feature (for example, color by nature).

Contexto: el gato se ha metido en el hollín de la chimenea.

Correct answer: "Está sucio/ennegrecido por algo." With estar we talk about the result of a specific action (he got dirty with soot) — a state, not a permanent characteristic. Note: in colloquial speech about people, "estar negro" can mean "to be very angry", but here, judging from the picture, it literally means "he got dirty/blackened".

Remember: "pez" = "fish". "Estar pez en…" = to be "like a fish out of water" in a subject, that is, to understand nothing. Check the set of idioms with "pez".

Correct answer: pez. The idiom "estar pez (en algo)" means "to know nothing about a subject / to be completely lost". Spanish loves expressions with fish/"pez" (compare "tener memoria de pez") — this imagery can help you remember it.

Tip: the fixed expression "estar hecho polvo" always goes with estar, because it expresses a state of tiredness.

Correct answer: está. "Estar hecho polvo" is a colloquial way to say "exhausted / completely worn out"; for states we only use estar.

Health is a temporary state: use estar. See examples with "ser/estar malo".

Correct answer: "Mi gato está enfermo." Illness is a state → estar. Also remember: ser malo / estar malo changes the meaning (quality vs. state).

Think "character/nature" vs "mood": character → ser. Fighting bulls in Spain are called "toro bravo", which is a natural quality of the animal.

Correct answer: es / es. Here we are talking about typical traits of the animals: manso (tame/meek by character) and bravo (fierce/fighting, as in the breed "toro bravo"). For stable characteristics we use ser.