Wednesday, December 27, 2006

¿Eres o estás inteligente?


Hola,

As a beginner, I was talking to my sister who's currently in Spanish 3 and we were trying to figure out whether "eres inteligente" or "estás inteligente" is more correct. I insisted that "eres" was more correct because you're saying a long term characteristic about them--intelligence, as they're not just being intelligent, but they are intelligent in nature. However, she insisted that it must be "estás", as you're describing the your feelings about the other person. With all of the chit-chat, we never actually found out which was more correct, and the other threads didn't help me much. So, which is more correct: "estás estupido" or "eres estupido" and what is the difference? Gracias!

Hasta pronto,

- Spencer




Hola Spencer,


The right way to say it is "Eres inteligente and "Eres estúpido". They're both characteristics, not feelings.

Now, if you're being humurous or sarcastic about a person being smart/stupid for a specific moment/situation, you can use "estar". One might say, for instance: "Hoy estás más inteligente que de costumbre." (You're being smarter than usual today). It almost borders on behaviour, and indeed, one is being somewhat humorous or sarcastic.

Take care,

- Karin

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