Those Bottles Were Empty In Spanish | Clear Meaning And Use

“Esas botellas estaban vacías” is the natural everyday phrasing, with the verb and adjective matching tense, number, and gender.

You’ve got the English sentence. Now you want Spanish that sounds like something a real person would say, not a word-by-word swap. This one is a good mini workout for Spanish grammar because it mixes four things at once: demonstratives (“those”), a plural noun (“bottles”), past tense (“were”), and an adjective that must match (“empty”).

By the end, you’ll know the best default translation, a few solid alternatives, when to use estar vs ser, and how to avoid the small mistakes that make a sentence feel “off” to native ears.

Quick Natural Translation You Can Trust

In most everyday situations, the cleanest translation is:

• Esas botellas estaban vacías.

That’s the version you can use for a table at a restaurant, a party cleanup, or pointing at bottles in a fridge. It treats “empty” as a state the bottles were in at that moment, so estar fits.

If you mean the bottles were empty when you found them, or when you checked them, this is still the one you’ll reach for first.

Why This Sentence Works In Spanish

“Those” Usually Maps To “Esas” Or “Aquellas”

English “those” doesn’t always show distance. Spanish often does. You’ve got two common picks:

• Esas = “those” near the person you’re speaking to, or just “those” in a casual point-and-name way.
• Aquellas = “those (over there),” with clearer distance.

So you can say Esas botellas when they’re right there on the counter, or Aquellas botellas when you’re pointing across the room.

“Were” Needs A Past Form That Matches Your Meaning

English “were” can hide two ideas: a temporary state (“they were empty”) or a lasting trait (“they were plastic bottles”). Spanish often separates those ideas with different verbs. For “empty,” Spanish normally treats it as a state, so you’ll see estar used with an adjective.

In the past, that often becomes:

• estaban (imperfect) = they were (state in the background, ongoing, habitual, or descriptive)
• estuvieron (preterite) = they were (state seen as finished or bounded in time)

If you’re describing the scene (“Everything was a mess, the bottles were empty”), estaban is a steady choice. If you’re marking a completed span (“They were empty all night, then we threw them away”), estuvieron can fit.

“Empty” Must Match Gender And Number

Botella is feminine. Plural feminine becomes botellas. The adjective must match, so “empty” becomes vacías (feminine plural).

If you swap the noun, the adjective changes too:

• El vaso estaba vacío. (glass, masculine singular)
• Los vasos estaban vacíos. (masculine plural)
• Las botellas estaban vacías. (feminine plural)

If you want a dictionary-grounded sense of how Spanish treats “empty,” the RAE entry for “vacío, vacía” in the Diccionario de la lengua española lays out core meanings and usage.

Those Bottles Were Empty In Spanish For Real Situations

Here are reliable versions you can use, with the meaning shift spelled out in plain terms:

When You’re Pointing Nearby

• Esas botellas estaban vacías. (standard, natural)

When You’re Pointing Farther Away

• Aquellas botellas estaban vacías. (distance is clearer)

When You Mean “All Of Them Were Empty”

• Esas botellas estaban todas vacías.
• Todas esas botellas estaban vacías.

Word order is flexible. Todas esas botellas feels tidy when you want “all those bottles” as a single block.

When The Emptiness Was A Completed Fact In Time

• Esas botellas estuvieron vacías toda la noche.

This frames it as a finished slice of time. It’s not “more correct,” just a different camera angle.

When You Want To Add A Cause

• Esas botellas estaban vacías porque ya las habían usado.

This is a clean way to link emptiness to a prior action without making the sentence heavy.

If you want a reference-backed explanation of ser and estar with adjectives, the RAE’s grammar section on attributes with ser and estar gives the general split between properties and states.

Common Errors That Make This Sound Strange

Using “Ser” For A Temporary State

Esas botellas eran vacías will sound odd in most cases. With physical objects, “empty” is usually treated as a state, so estar is the safe default.

Spanish does allow ser with some adjectives in special readings, but that’s not the everyday meaning you want here. If your goal is a sentence that won’t raise eyebrows, stick with estaban vacías.

Forgetting Gender Or Number Agreement

Esas botellas estaban vacío is a mismatch. Vacío is masculine singular. With botellas, you need vacías.

Mixing Up “Those” Demonstratives

Spanish has a full set of demonstratives that match gender and number. You’ll often want:

• esa botella (that bottle)
• esas botellas (those bottles)
• aquel/aquella forms for clearer distance

Overloading The Sentence With Extra Words

English speakers sometimes try to force in “were” + “empty” + “in” + “Spanish” style structure. Spanish doesn’t need that scaffolding. Keep it lean. Let agreement do the work.

Table Of Natural Options And When Each Fits

This table lays out the best “plug-and-play” choices and what each one signals. Pick the row that matches your situation and you’ll sound natural fast.

Spanish Sentence	Best Use	Meaning Cue
Esas botellas estaban vacías.	Normal description	State at that time
Aquellas botellas estaban vacías.	Pointing farther away	Distance is clearer
Todas esas botellas estaban vacías.	Emphasis on “all”	No exceptions
Esas botellas estuvieron vacías toda la noche.	Finished time window	Bounded span
Esas botellas ya estaban vacías.	“Already” context	State existed earlier
Esas botellas estaban completamente vacías.	Stress total emptiness	No liquid left
Esas botellas quedaron vacías.	Result of an action	They ended up empty
Las botellas estaban vacías cuando llegamos.	Set a scene with timing	State at arrival

Ser Vs. Estar Here, In Plain Words

For this sentence, you can treat the choice like this:

• Estar + vacío = the bottles had no contents at that moment.
• Ser + (noun/adjective) = what the bottles are by type or identity (material, category, purpose).

So you might say:

• Esas botellas estaban vacías. (state)
• Esas botellas eran de vidrio. (material)

If you want a dictionary-style entry that explains ser usage in a structured way, the RAE’s Diccionario panhispánico de dudas entry for “ser” is a solid reference point.

And if you want the noun itself nailed down, the RAE definition for “botella” in the Diccionario de la lengua española is helpful when you’re writing or translating and want the core sense in Spanish.

Pronunciation That Won’t Trip You Up

Say it smoothly and the sentence lands better. Here are quick cues you can use without phonetic symbols:

• Esas: EH-sas
• botellas: boh-TEH-yas (in many accents) or boh-TEH-lyas (in others)
• estaban: es-TAH-ban
• vacías: bah-SEE-as (the stress sits on “SEE”)

That accent mark in vacías matters. It keeps the stress where Spanish expects it.

Table For Fast Picking The Right Past Tense

If you’re torn between estaban and estuvieron, use this quick chooser. It won’t cover every edge case, but it keeps you out of trouble for everyday Spanish.

If You Mean…	Pick This	Sample
Background description of a scene	Estaban	Esas botellas estaban vacías cuando entré.
A state seen as a finished time block	Estuvieron	Esas botellas estuvieron vacías toda la noche.
“Already empty” before another event	Ya estaban	Esas botellas ya estaban vacías.
They ended up empty after use	Quedaron	Después de la cena, esas botellas quedaron vacías.
Ongoing condition you’re describing	Estaban	Las botellas estaban vacías y la mesa sucia.

Mini Practice: Turn One Sentence Into Five Useful Lines

Want this to stick? Take the base sentence and swap one part at a time. You’ll get a small set of lines you can reuse in conversation.

1) Change The Demonstrative

• Aquellas botellas estaban vacías.
• Estas botellas estaban vacías. (these bottles)

2) Add A Simple Time Anchor

• Esas botellas estaban vacías ayer.
• Esas botellas estaban vacías cuando llegamos.

3) Add A Reason

• Esas botellas estaban vacías porque se acabó la bebida.

4) Swap The Noun

• Esos vasos estaban vacíos.
• Esas latas estaban vacías.

5) Keep It Short In Real Talk

• Ya estaban vacías. (when the context is clear)

This last one is what you’ll hear a lot: Spanish drops repeated nouns once everyone knows what you mean.

Checklist Before You Use It In Writing Or Speech

• Use esas for “those” in most casual pointing contexts; use aquellas when distance matters.
• Use estaban vacías as your default.
• Make agreement match: botellas → vacías.
• Use estuvieron when you’re framing a finished time span.
• Keep the sentence simple unless you truly need extra detail.

If you stick to that checklist, your Spanish will sound clean and natural, and you won’t get trapped by the “to be” split that trips up a lot of learners.