Can you say "él es gordo" if you're talking about a fat, male animal?

Question

Can you say "él es gordo" if you're talking about a fat, male animal?

Or would you have to say "El animal es gordo," or "Es gordo" (it's fat)

Answer 1

Él está gordo.

Está gordo.

Or "es un animal gordo" or "es una persona gorda."

Answer 2

As I understand it, "está gordo" implies that one has become fat, whereas "es gordo" means that one is fat.

that's right but we rarely say "es gordo", it sounds very derogatory. - paula_vlc, May 2, 2014

Answer 3

You can say it all three ways, except you must use está instead of es for this.

By the way, Spanish doesn't have "it"...it has only he or she (things we refer to as it are he or she to the Spanish speaker). Therefore, "está gordo" is exactly the same as "él está gordo."

Had you meant "Ella está gorda", then you would say "está gorda" (she is fat), which you could say if referring to a female animal.

(I had not noticed the whole es vs está issue until after JulianChivis's comment.) - webdunce, Feb 4, 2010