Why "Es un..." instead of "Él es un..."?

James L.A1Kwiziq community member

Why "Es un..." instead of "Él es un..."?

I interpret "es" as "is", so how/why is "He" assumed for "Es un excelente actor." -> "He is an excellent actor"?

Asked 3 years ago
DENNIS N.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributorCorrect answer

Pronouns are often dropped in Spanish when the subject can be clearly inferred from the sentence. In this case, "Es un excelente actor" ... it is could be assumed that "He" is the only one being referred to. There are two other possibilities here ... Ella (She) and Usted (formal You). If there is no one else being referred to in this context, then you can drop the pronoun. However, it is also not wrong to add the pronoun for clarity or emphasis. 

James L. asked:

Why "Es un..." instead of "Él es un..."?

I interpret "es" as "is", so how/why is "He" assumed for "Es un excelente actor." -> "He is an excellent actor"?

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your Spanish level for FREE

Test your Spanish to the CEFR standard

Find your Spanish level
I'll be right with you...