El Rincón Español - homeschool Spanish support

Mar. 1, 2008 - ¿Dónde está......?

One fun way to plug in vocab you have learned, and practice making sentences, is to ask where things are. Two new words will help us accomplish this. ¿dónde? is how you ask "where?" in Spanish. The verb that goes with statements or questions about location is estar. We've already talked on this blog about the verb ser being one way to say "is" ; estar is the other. Think of estar as the real estate verb: location, location, location!

So here is our formula for asking location: ¿Dónde + está + el/la + singular noun?

And for a plural noun: ¿Dónde + están + los/las + plural noun?

Let's give this a try using vocab from our Flash Kids Spanish Flash Cards

¿Dónde está el carro?
¿Dónde están las calcetines?
¿Dónde está la niña?
¿Dónde están los platos?

Es fácil, ¿no? Easy, right? So how do you answer a question about where something is? Let's start simple. We are going to use the verb estar + a location. Here is some beginning vocab to use for locations:

aquí - here, as in right here
acá - here, in this general area
ahí (sometimes allí - pronounced the same) - there, where you are
allá - there, where neither of us are

Now wait a minute... why do they need two ways to say here and two to say there? Well, they like to be a little more specific in Spanish, but remember sometimes we change the word "here" by saying "over here", "around here", or "right here", so it is really not that much of a stretch to see that Spanish has a couple of words with a little nuance in their meaning. Usually, aquí means "right here where I am" and acá has more of a sense of "around here". There will be those who argue with that assessment, and there seems to be a little regional difference in how they are used. Here is the bottom line: you will be understood whichever one you use!

Ok, how about "there"? Ahí refers to the "there" where the person you are talking to is located, whether it is across the room, or a thousand miles of phone line. In a sentence like, "What is the weather like there?", we would use ahí. To refer to a "there" where neither you nor the person you are talking with is located, you will use allá. Say we are talking about Sydney, Australia, and someone says "The famous Sydney Opera House is there". We would use allá. (Based on blog tracking, we have had just a peek on this blog from Australia. So if you are peeking again, and you are in Sydney, that last example doesn't apply to you mate!)

Ok, enough explanations.... once you are familiar with these formulas you can make a little game out of it. Here is how: divide into two groups, and use your flash cards or household objects that you know the names for in Spanish. Put a few cards/items with one team, a few with another, and a few in a third location where nobody is. Take turns asking where the card/item is located. The other team answers using:

Está aquí - it is here
Están aquí - they are here
Está ahí - it is there (where you are)
Están ahí - they are there (where you are)
Está allá - it is there (where neither of us are)
Están allá - they are there (where neither of us are)

If you want to keep track of points, just give a point for each correctly formed answer. Each team can take turns asking and answering. Here is what it may look like:

¿Dónde están las uvas? - Están allá
¿Dónde está la llave? - Está aquí
¿Dónde está el perro? - Está ahí

Makes sense? ¿Tiene sentido? As always, contact me with questions if you have any.

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