El lago está rodeado de montañas.

The lake is surrounded by mountains.

Breakdown of El lago está rodeado de montañas.

• estar: to be
• la montaña: the mountain
• el lago: the lake
• rodeado: surrounded
• de: by

Questions & Answers about El lago está rodeado de montañas.

Why do we use está instead of es in this sentence?

Spanish has two verbs for “to be”: ser and estar.
• Es (from ser) describes permanent or defining characteristics.
• Está (from estar) describes temporary states or locations.
Here, being “surrounded by mountains” is a state or condition of the lake, so we choose está.

What does rodeado de mean, and how does it work grammatically?

Rodear is a verb meaning “to surround.”
• Rodeado is its past participle, used here as an adjective meaning “surrounded.”
• It must agree in gender and number with the noun it describes: lago (masculine singular) ⇒ rodeado.
• The preposition de introduces what does the surrounding (“surrounded by mountains”).

Why is the preposition de used after rodeado? Could we use por or entre instead?

• With participles used as adjectives (está rodeado de), Spanish uses de to indicate “by” in a general, descriptive sense.
• Por appears in true passive-voice constructions with ser (e.g., fue rodeado por), not with estar plus participle.
• You can use entre to say “between mountains” (location): El lago está entre montañas, but that emphasizes “lying among” rather than “completely encircled.”

Why is montañas plural? Could it be singular?

• We use the plural because there’s more than one mountain around the lake.
• If only one mountain surrounded it, you would say El lago está rodeado de una montaña, but that sounds unusual—lakes are typically encircled by several peaks.

Do we always need the article el before lago? Can we drop it?

• In Spanish, general references to countable nouns usually require a definite article: el lago = “the lake.”
• You can drop the article only in very specific poetic or headlines contexts. Normally, you keep el.

Is rodeado here a passive-voice form or an adjective?

Here it functions as an adjective (a so-called “stative” participle), not an active passive.
• Passive voice in Spanish normally uses ser + participle (e.g., fue construido).
• Estar + participle describes condition: está rodeado = “it finds itself surrounded.”

How do you pronounce montañas, and what’s the role of the tilde?

• Montañas is pronounced [mon-TAH-ɲas].
• The ñ (with its tilde) is a separate letter pronounced like “ny” in canyon.
• The stress naturally falls on the second-to-last syllable (TAH), following Spanish stress rules for words ending in a vowel.

How can I express the same idea in an active-voice sentence?

Turn the surrounding elements into the subject and use the present of rodear:
• Las montañas rodean el lago.
This means literally “The mountains surround the lake.”

Can I use other tenses or persons of rodear to describe similar situations?

Yes, you can adapt rodear to any tense or person:
• Past imperfect: Las montañas rodeaban el lago (“The mountains used to surround the lake”).
• Future: Las montañas rodearán el lago (“The mountains will surround the lake”).
• First person plural: Rodeamos el lago en kayak (“We surround/encircle the lake by kayaking around it”).
Each form changes the time frame or perspective but uses the same root verb.

Could I replace está rodeado de with se encuentra rodeado de? Is there any difference?

Yes. Se encuentra (from encontrarse) is a more formal or literary synonym of estar.
• El lago se encuentra rodeado de montañas conveys the exact same meaning but sounds slightly more formal.
• In everyday conversation, está rodeado de is more common.