alegre, contento, feliz
I have checked the questions people asked before, but none of them compares the three adjectives at the same time. After viewing those answers, I have the following conclusion.
People use "feliz" when they say "¡Feliz Navidad!" or "Soy feliz (I am a happy person, which is a permanent state)."
People use "contento" when they say "Estoy contento con mi trabajo" or "No está contento contigo (He is not happy with you, which is a temporary state)"
My question is: when would you use "alegre" to describe your mood or state? Please give me your example sentences. Also, how do you say "It is a happy thing/moment"? Which word do you use?
6 Answers
Hi, I'm from Mexico and I can give some examples of how I use the words alegre, feliz and contento.
FELIZ
Estoy feliz porque hoy es mi cumpleaños.
Me hace feliz comer chocolate.
Yo soy feliz .(that sentence is rarely used, it's better to say "estoy feliz")
CONTENTO
Estoy contento. (notice that with the word feliz you can say "Estoy/soy feliz", but you can't say "soy contento" , that doesn't make sense).
¿Ya te contentaste? (it's like " are you happy now?")
Me contento con solo mirarte. Here I use the verb contentar, it means to feel happy or satisfied and it is very commun is spanish.
No me siento contento con mi trabajo.
ALEGRE
I use alegre mostly to describe a person, a song, a story, a movie, etc.
Es una niña muy alegre.
Acabo de escuchar una cancion tan alegre que me puse a bailar.
No es una historia nada alegre, de hecho es bastante triste.
I think this varies a lot depending on the speaker Joy. I think a person can be either contento or feliz, either permanently (in general) or at a specifc moment. I¨ve heard both both ways, so I don´t think any of them is tied to time or state. Now, it´s possible one is used more for one or the other, and that´s best to hear a native comment on.
I think of alegre as being stronger, than the other two, but don´t know if feliz or contento show one as stronger or the other. I tend to think of contento as a bit weaker too, but feel that may be linguistic interference from English.
The way I would use alegre is to say "Me alegra verte hoy." which means "I am glad to see you today."
This is a bit apples to oranges, because alegre is an adjective, and alegrarse is a verb. Sure, they´re related, but they´re not the same.
Personally, I just try to note what natives say,, and then use the same words in the same contexts.
hth roger
I don't think in terms of permanent or temporary states when I use these words.
Rather I rank them by degrees.
Contento is ehhh i'm so so. I could be better and I could be worse.
Feliz is I'm happy. This is good things are happening in my life.
Alegre is very happy. I just won the lottery or bought a new car or sold my boat. This doesn't happen very often.
Remember this is just my take on using these words. Everyone chooses words differently so there are no set rules for their use.
The way I would use alegre is to say "Me alegra verte hoy." which means "I am glad to see you today."
It is a happy moment. = Este es un momento feliz. (I think "momento" cannot be "contento.") On the other hand "Estoy contento."
This is hard to explain.
I think this is one of that things that you learn practicing and listening to native speakers. Sometimes one feels better to say than the other.
I would use alegre to describe my mood or other's when there is smiling, laughing, positive attitude... etc. But it can be usual or momentary.
Una persona que es alegre would be a person acting this way on a regular basis.
Una persona que está alegre o contenta would be the same but more like a temporary thing: good news received, a raise in her job, ...etc.
Una persona es contenta must NOT be used. Sounds enormously odd. That tells us a little bit more about its short-term nature.
Continuing with momentary states of minds, estar feliz would be the same as to be alegre/contento but in at a higher level. And ser feliz is to be happy like a permanent thing. For example:
"Yo soy feliz pero, ahora mismo, no estoy contento ni alegre". You can be happy in your life but right now you are not 'in the mood' because you just had a car accident, for example.
In general, I recommend you to use estar when talking about something temporary or based on external events that can change your mood and to use ser when it is more stable or inner feeling.
For specific uses of this 3 words I strongly recommend you to visit WordReference. That site would me be more useful for you than a thousand of my words.
[Feel free to correct my English. Thank you]
Hi, I'm just putting an answer in so I can reference this later.
But I wanted to tell you that when I heard the word "jubilado" in Spanish for retired I loved it, because I was close to retiring at that time and looking happily forward to it. The word reminded me of "Jubilation!", so when I needed a name for joining this site as a member, I chose "Jubilado".
Te agradezco por tu tiempo.
