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El edificio está cerca de la estación.

El edificio está cerca de la estación.
The building is near the station.
FromLesson 42inHardcore Spanish (Latin America)

Breakdown of El edificio está cerca de la estación.

estar
to be
la estación
the station
cerca de
near
el edificio
the building

Questions & Answers about El edificio está cerca de la estación.

Why is it está and not es?
Spanish uses estar for the physical location of people and things. Use ser for the location of events. Compare: El edificio está cerca de la estación (a thing’s location) vs La reunión es en el edificio (an event’s location).
What does the accent in está do?
It marks stress and distinguishes the verb está (he/she/it is) from esta (this, feminine). In modern spelling, esta (this) has no accent; the verb está always does.
Why is de required after cerca?
The fixed pattern is cerca de + thing. Without the noun, you can say está cerca (“it’s nearby”), but when you name what it’s near, you must use de: cerca del parque, cerca de la estación.
Can I say cerca a la estación?
Standard Spanish prefers cerca de. Cerca a is heard regionally (e.g., parts of Colombia and Peru) but is often marked or considered nonstandard. Use de to be safe.
Why el for edificio and la for estación?
Grammatical gender: edificio is masculine, so el; estación is feminine, so la. Most nouns ending in -o are masculine, and most ending in -ción are feminine.
When do I use del instead of de la?
De + el = del (contraction). Use it before masculine singular nouns: cerca del parque. There’s no contraction with la/las/los: de la estación, de los museos, de las tiendas. Note: de él (of him) does not contract.
Can I omit the articles? (e.g., “Edificio está cerca de estación”)
No. Singular, countable nouns in Spanish normally need a determiner: El edificio… de la estación. You can omit articles with many proper names: cerca de Bogotá, cerca de Central Park.
Is the word order flexible? Can I flip it?
Yes. The relation is symmetric: El edificio está cerca de la estación and La estación está cerca del edificio are both correct. For questions, both ¿El edificio está cerca de la estación? and ¿Está el edificio cerca de la estación? are natural.
How do I pronounce it in Latin America?
  • cerca: “SER-kah” (the c before e sounds like s)
  • está: “es-TAH” (stress on the second syllable)
  • edificio: “eh-dee-FEE-syo” (ci = s sound)
  • estación: “es-ta-SYON” (stress on the last syllable; the ción is “syón”)
    In Latin America, c before e/i is pronounced like English s (not the “th” of Spain).
Is cerca an adjective? Does it agree?
Here cerca is an adverb, so it doesn’t change. If you want an adjective, use cercano/a (which agrees): El edificio está cercano a la estación / Las casas están cercanas a la estación. You can also intensify the adverb: muy cerca, bastante cerca.
What are other natural ways to say this?
  • El edificio queda cerca de la estación.
  • El edificio se encuentra/está ubicado cerca de la estación.
    These are very common in Latin America, especially queda for location.
How close is cerca de compared with other options?
  • al lado de / junto a: right next to
  • cerca de: near (unspecified distance)
  • frente a / enfrente de: across from / in front of
  • lejos de: far from
How do I say the opposite?
Use lejos de: El edificio está lejos de la estación. A softer way is No está lejos de la estación (“It’s not far from the station”).
How would I make it plural or talk about the past?
  • Plural: Los edificios están cerca de la estación.
  • Past: El edificio estaba cerca de la estación (background/description) or estuvo (completed, time-bounded context).
Can I use en instead of de (e.g., “cerca en la estación”)?
No. The fixed preposition is cerca de. En means “in/at,” not “near.”
Does estación always mean “train station”?
No. Estación can be a station of various types (estación de tren/metro/autobuses) or a season of the year (estación del año). In this sentence, with cerca de and a place, it clearly means a transport station.
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“How does verb conjugation work in Spanish?”
Spanish verbs change form based on the subject, tense, and mood. Regular verbs follow predictable patterns depending on whether they end in ‑ar, ‑er, or ‑ir. For example, "hablar" (to speak) becomes "hablo" (I speak), "hablas" (you speak), and "habla" (he/she speaks) in the present tense.

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