We all know that “¿Cómo está él?” means “How is he?”. Here, we’re asking about his current state or emotion, if he’s well, sick, happy, sad, etc.

But the question “¿Cómo es él?” would also seem to be “How is he?”. Obviously, they both can’t be the same question, and they aren’t—we have two set questions to express those ideas:

• If you want to know about personality, if he’s easy-going or nervous, bossy or relaxed, you ask:
  “What is he like?”

• And if you want to know about his physical appearance, if he’s tall or short, fat or skinny, with a head full of dense, luxurious blond hair or bald as a billiard ball, you ask:
  “What does he look like?”

Notice that like in these sentences is never the verb (i.e., it’s not the same like as in “I like chocolate”), but rather the preposition.

These questions are easily confused, so make sure you practice them to get them straight in your head!

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