El hombre alto es a Juan.

Question

If I understand correctly, "El hombre alto es a Juan." would be the best translation of the English language sentence "The tall man is John."

In particular, the verbs "Ser and Estar" must also follow the rule of putting the "personal pronoun" "a" after the verb when the direct object is a definite person.

Would the "personal pronoun" rule apply to all animate objects, e.g., animals, mythical creatures, Greek gods, etc.?

Answer 1

I wouldn't use the pronoun here. El hombre alto es Juan is correct.

Why do you think you need a personal pronoun here? Was there a lesson that said it was always required?

Edit: Now I get it! Juan is not the direct object in this sentence, he is the subject. That's where the confusion is coming from. Juan is doing the is'ing.

From the authoritive book, "Essential Spanish Grammar" by the well-known expert Seymour Resinick. - territurtle, Jul 12, 2011

I see. The confusion is that Juan is the subject here, not the direct object. - KevinB, Jul 12, 2011

I see what you mean Kevin. You are saying the "el hombre," is acting as a predicate nominative, i.e., "complementing the verb, which means it is not a direct object." I'll think on it some more and see if I can come up with another example. - territurtle, Jul 12, 2011

What I'm saying is that "es a Juan" just sounded wrong. I've studied grammar, but try to forget it because it gets in the way of speaking Spanish :-) - KevinB, Jul 13, 2011

I don't think you can find another example using ser or estar. The personal 'a' is used with objects, and you can't "is" someone else. - KevinB, Jul 13, 2011

Answer 2

I think, in this case, you would not use "a" because Juan is not the direct object of the sentence.

Busco a Juan. Voy a llamar a Juan.

But... Mi nombre es Juan. El hombre es Juan.

I hope that helps!

Answer 3

SonrisaDelSo,

Great answer. The only thing I would add is that the SpanishDict.com website has a reference area, too.

Here is the link the this website's discussion of the personal a. You covered it very thoroughly, but it's still good to get another perspective.

Great link! Thanks for posting it :) - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 12, 2011

Thanks Joyce! Isn't it a terrific article?! I had read it, but was still left with some confusion, which Kevin cleared up. It might be a good idea to add this thread to the reference article, because someone else could make the same mistake I did? - territurtle, Jul 12, 2011

Answer 4

This is an excellent question.

According to this website, you use the personal a for all people and for animals that you have personal feelings for (like a pet).

This site agrees, saying it's only for specific people.

The Personal a is not used then a person you are referring to is described using an indefinite noun (you don't know if such a person exists or is an unspecific person.

This website states you use the personal a for anything you have feelings for, even a country. (hey, I guess why they call it a personal a ).

To be honest, I did not know that you need the personal a for ser and estar, so I would wait for a more advanced speaker to check your example sentence.

I hope that I helped you.

You are a wonder and a sweetheart!! Our very own expert dear "Dean" made the personal pronoun correction in one of my Word of the Day" posts and I got to wondering ... well ... you, especially you Sonrisa, understand! ;) - territurtle, Jul 12, 2011

:) Jaja, thank you, Terri. Usted es muy, muy amable! - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 12, 2011