La cafetería queda en la planta baja del edificio nuevo.

The cafeteria is on the ground floor of the new building.

Breakdown of La cafetería queda en la planta baja del edificio nuevo.

• en: on
• nuevo: new
• del: of the
• la cafetería: the cafeteria

Questions & Answers about La cafetería queda en la planta baja del edificio nuevo.

What does queda mean here, and why not está?

In this sentence, queda means “is located.” It’s very common in Spanish (especially when giving directions) to use quedar for the location of places. You could also say La cafetería está en…, which is equally correct. Many speakers feel queda sounds a bit more “directional” or like you’re pointing out where something is, while está is the general “is.”

What is queda grammatically?

Queda is the 3rd person singular, present tense of quedar. The subject is la cafetería (singular), so you use queda. If it were plural, you’d use quedan: Las cafeterías quedan… A very common question form is ¿Dónde queda…? (“Where is … located?”).

What other meanings does quedar have?

Besides “to be located,” quedar can mean:

• “to remain/be left”: Queda poco café. (There’s little coffee left.)
• “to end up/turn out”: La reunión quedó larga.
• “to fit” (clothes): La camisa me queda grande.
• “to arrange to meet/to agree”: Quedamos en vernos a las cinco. (We agreed to meet at five.)

Why is it en la planta baja and not a la planta baja or de la planta baja?