Generally, “handsome” in English is used to describe men. For women, one would normally use the word “pretty” or “beautiful”. However, there is no reason why we can’t say that a woman is “very handsome”. In times past, this was a typical way of describing a good looking woman. But for this explanation of the phrase “very handsome” in Spanish, we will focus on the terms used when referring to a good looking man, as this is the usual use case.
The direct translation of handsome is hermoso/a or guapo/a. Hermoso/guapo is used when referring to a man and hermosa/guapa is used when referring to a woman. (note: you can use both words to refer to things as well as people)
To say “very handsome” in Spanish we simply add the adverb muy, giving muy hermoso and muy guapo.
Example: That guy is very handsome – Ese tipo es muy hermoso. This sentence uses the ser form of ‘To Be” in English.
We can also use estar in the same sentence: Ese tipo esta muy hermoso. In this second case, the person referring to the handsome guy sees his ‘handsomeness’ as a temporary condition.
He might be good looking, normal looking, or even ugly but because of how he looks right at that moment he is called ‘handsome’ using the estar form of “to be”. In many cases, if someone makes an effort to look good, an onlooker might say estas hermosa (in the case of a woman) or estas hermoso in the case of a man.
- Permanently ‘good looking’ – es hermoso
- Looking good right now – esta hermoso
Read this guide to using ser vs estar!
If you’d like to know more phrases to use with your boyfriend, girlfriend, partner, or lover in Latin American Spanish, check out this guide to Terms of Endearment.
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