Usage Note
Triste is invariable for gender (both un hombre triste and una mujer triste take the same form), only changing for number: tristes. It can describe both a person feeling sadness and a thing that is gloomy or dreary: un día triste ('a gloomy day'), un paisaje triste ('a bleak landscape'). To say someone feels sad, Spanish uses estar triste (temporary state) rather than ser triste, which implies a permanent nature.
Examples
"El niño está muy triste hoy."
Natural Translation
The child is very sad today.
Related Words
Explore Spanish by topic