El verbo “estar” con preposiciones de lugar (The Verb “estar” with Prepositions of Place)

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In Chapter 1, you were introduced to the verb estar when learning about greetings. The verb estar, like ser, means “to be” in English, and it is irregular in the first person singular form (¿Cómo estás?  > Estoy bien, gracias). Throughout this chapter, you will learn other uses of estar. Before we delve into this, here is the full conjugation of estar in the present tense:

Estar (to be)

Besides the irregular form in the first person, it is also important to note that the second person and third person, both singular and plural, have accent marks.

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Do you know Waldo? In Spanish-speaking countries Waldo is best known as Wally! If you have any Waldo books lying around your home, try finding him and indicating where he is. How will you do that in Spanish?

Let’s explore how to use estar with prepositions of place to express where something or somebody is located. First, what are prepositions of place? They are words used to express location or position of a person, object, or place, such as the words in bold in the following examples:

• Wally está detrás de la biblioteca.

• Waldo is behind the library.

• Wally está en Paulson.

• Waldo is at Paulson.

• Wally está cerca de la pizarra.

• Waldo is near the whiteboard.

Here are some very common prepositions of place that you can use along estar to express location:

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Prepositions of place are essential for describing location and expressing the position of objects, people, and places. They combine with estar following this pattern:

estar + preposition of place + reference point

The reference point is the object, person, or place that helps establish the location.

In the image above, the prepositions help us express the location of the cat in relation to the plants (reference point). For example:

• El gato está detrás de la planta.

• The cat is behind the plant.

• El gato está entre dos plantas.

• The cat is between two plants.

Here is a more complete list of prepositions of place frequently used with estar to talk about where things, people, or places are located:

• al lado de

• next to

• alrededor de

• around

• cerca de

• near

• debajo de

• under

• delante de

• in front of

• dentro de

• inside

• detrás de

• behind

• en

• in/on

• encima de / sobre

• on top of / above

• enfrente de

• across from / facing

• entre

• between

• fuera de

• outside

• lejos de

• far from

Note: Some of the expressions above such as a la izquierda de and a la derecha de are prepositional phrases—not just single-word prepositions— that end in de, which works as a connector to the next noun. Also, remember that some, such as en, sobre, or entre are not followed by de.

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