How do you translate, "Como es el profesor?"

Question

How do you translate "¿Cómo es el profesor?"

Answer 1

Am I correct in thinking that the translation is more like, "What does the teacher look like?" I thought questions with ser implied a physical description of the person.

No!!! Thst's a remote possibility (but would need more context). The obvious/everyday meaning would be "What kind of teacher is he?" - samdie, Sep 25, 2011

Answer 2

But in English we would only say ''How is the teacher?" if we were enquiring about his health.

I would say this sentence means "What is the teacher like?" which you could interpret either as what is his teaching like or what does he look like, depending on the context.

Answer 3

What is the teacher like?

Answer 4

How is the teacher?

Rtburg, it wouldn't mean current condition. If that were the case, está would be used. However, since "es" (a form of "ser) if used, then we are going for the characteristics of the teacher, which would also go along with how his class is.

Does that mean how is he feeling or how hard is his class? - rtburg1, Sep 24, 2011

See my answer. :-) - Stadt, Sep 24, 2011

Whoops, Stadt. I had this tab opened for a while without refreshing, so I didn't even see your post or comment. Great answer :) - SonrisaDelSol, Sep 24, 2011

Answer 5

If you simply double click each of the words in the question (the one that has the accent, so that you do get the right answer), you will see that it means:

How is the professor?

Because "es" was used and not "está" the implication is that the is refers to intrinsic characteristics and not his current condition, so it would be more of a "is he a good professor?" and not "is he healthy today?".

Answer 6

I suppose " how is the teacher/professor "

Hope it helps