Ser/estar- specific question pregunta específica
My teacher (Barragan, anyone?) says that some adjectives can be used with ser and estar- they are used with ser unless you're being sarcastic (i.e. you can say to a mean person who's nice during Christmas season, "Estás simpático hoy"), but not all adjectives can be used like that, and other adjectives are used with "ser" and "estar" that don't fall into that category (maybe like "listo"- meaning "clever" or "ready" depending on whether you use "ser" or "estar")... help! I have a test on Thursday 11/11... Thanks, guys!
Mi maestra dice que algunos adjectivos pueden estar usado con ser y estar- los usa con "ser" pero puedes usarlos con "estar" cuando quieres estar sarcástico (por ejemplo, puedes decir a una persona antipático quien es simpático solamente durante la Navidad, "Estás simpático hoy"), pero no puedes usar todos adjectivos así, y otros adjectivos están usado con "ser" y "estar" que no están en esa categoría (quizá como la palabra "listo" significa dos cosas diferentes si la usas con "ser" or "estar")... ¡ayúdame! (Puedes contestar en español- ¡tengo un exámen el jueves 11/11 y necesito toda la ayuda que puedo conseguir! 
¡Muchas gracias!)
2 Answers
Welcome to the forum. I've never heard the "sarcastic" part, but that doesn't mean it's not true. Some adjectives are used with estar to imply a change, like está gordo instead of es gordo, meaning someone's gained weight recently, or está casada instead of es casada, meaning she's recently gotten married.
Other times it changes the meaning of the adjective altogether, like your examples. Another one is estoy aburrido = I am bored,, while es aburrido = it is boring.
"Estás simpático hoy" is commonly used sarcastically, but it doesn't work with all adjectives: it depends on the context, because it can be used as a positive comment too. You can say "Estás muy atento hoy" as a praise, describing the current circumstances instead of classifying the other one as being an attentive person, which is what "ser" would do. "Estás muy guapo/a" is a very common praise in Spain, for example.
