Breakdown of El libro verde y el libro azul están separados en la mesa.
Questions & Answers about El libro verde y el libro azul están separados en la mesa.
In Spanish, every noun has a grammatical gender: masculine or feminine.
- libro is a masculine noun.
- Masculine singular nouns usually use the article el.
- Feminine singular nouns usually use la.
So you say:
- el libro (the book)
- la mesa (the table)
The gender is mostly arbitrary and must be memorized with each noun. It doesn’t depend on the physical object being “male” or “female.”
In Spanish, most descriptive adjectives (colors, size, shape, nationality, etc.) usually come after the noun:
- libro verde = green book
- casa grande = big house
- camisa roja = red shirt
Putting the adjective before the noun (e.g. verde libro) is either wrong or sounds very unusual/poetic in this case. So the normal order is:
noun + adjective → libro verde
El libro verde y el libro azul clearly refers to two different books:
- one green book
- one blue book
If you say El libro verde y azul, it sounds like you are talking about one single book that is both green and blue (maybe multicolored).
Spanish often repeats the noun (and article) when it wants to be very clear that we’re talking about two separate things:
- El perro blanco y el perro negro = the white dog and the black dog (two dogs)
- El perro blanco y negro = the black-and-white dog (one dog)
So the repetition removes ambiguity.
The subject of the sentence is actually two books joined by y (and):
- El libro verde
- y el libro azul
Together, they form a plural subject (like “the green book and the blue book” = “they”).
In Spanish, the verb must agree in number with the subject:
- El libro está separado. (The book is separated. → singular)
- Los libros están separados. (The books are separated. → plural)
- El libro verde y el libro azul están separados. (Two books → plural verb están)
Estar is used for:
- location/position
- temporary states or conditions
In this sentence, están separados en la mesa describes:
- how they are arranged (their state/condition)
- where they are (on the table)
So estar is the natural choice:
- Los libros están separados. = The books are (currently) separated.
If you said Los libros son separados, it would sound strange, as if “being separated” were a permanent or defining characteristic of these books, which is not the idea here.
Separados is an adjective (originally a past participle) that must agree with the noun it describes in:
- gender (masculine / feminine)
- number (singular / plural)
The subject is:
- El libro verde y el libro azul → two books → masculine plural.
So the adjective must be masculine plural:
- masculine singular: separado
- feminine singular: separada
- masculine plural: separados ✅
- feminine plural: separadas
Other examples:
- El libro está separado. (one book, masculine singular)
- La caja está separada. (one box, feminine singular)
- Las cajas están separadas. (boxes, feminine plural)
In many everyday contexts, en la mesa and sobre la mesa can both mean “on the table.”
- en la mesa = in/at/on the table, depending on context
- sobre la mesa = literally “on top of the table”
Subtle differences:
- sobre la mesa emphasizes that something is on the surface of the table.
- en la mesa is a bit more general and could also mean “at the table” in some contexts (e.g. people sitting at a table).
In your sentence, both would be understood as “on the table”:
- … están separados en la mesa.
- … están separados sobre la mesa.
You could, but you need to adjust the adjectives to agree with libros (plural):
- Los libros verdes y azules están separados en la mesa.
Here, we no longer mention each book separately. We talk about “the green books and the blue books” as groups:
- Los libros verdes = the green books (plural)
- y los libros azules = the blue books (plural)
So the meaning changes:
- El libro verde y el libro azul… → one green book and one blue book
- Los libros verdes y azules… → (some) green books and (some) blue books
In Spanish, definite nouns usually take the definite article (el, la, los, las) much more often than in English.
English often says:
- “on the table” or “on a table”
- sometimes even just “on table” is wrong
In Spanish, you almost always need the article:
- en la mesa = on the table
- en una mesa = on a table
Omitting the article (en mesa) is generally incorrect here, except in some fixed expressions or headlines, not in this kind of normal sentence.
Yes. Spanish word order is quite flexible, especially with prepositional phrases like en la mesa.
These sentences are all grammatical and mean essentially the same:
- El libro verde y el libro azul están separados en la mesa.
- En la mesa, el libro verde y el libro azul están separados.
Moving en la mesa to the front just changes the emphasis slightly, focusing more on the location (“On the table, the green book and the blue book are separated”), but it’s completely correct.
The accent mark in están shows where the stress falls in the word.
Without the accent, estan would normally be stressed on the next-to-last syllable (es-TAN or E-stan, depending how you parse it). Spanish accent rules say:
- Words ending in a vowel, n, or s are normally stressed on the second-to-last syllable.
- If the stress falls somewhere else, you must write an accent mark.
In están, the stress is on the last syllable: es-TÁN.
Since that’s irregular for a word ending in -n, it needs the accent mark: están.
Compare:
- esta (no accent) → ES-ta (this - feminine)
- está (with accent) → es-TÁ (he/she/it is)
- están (with accent) → es-TÁN (they are)