El dedal está junto al imperdible y el alfiler.

Because the sentence is talking about location: where the thimble is.

In Spanish, estar is normally used for location, while ser is used for identity, description, origin, and similar ideas.

So:

• El dedal está junto al imperdible y el alfiler. = The thimble is next to the safety pin and the pin.
• Using es here would sound wrong for physical location.

A very useful shortcut is:

• ser = what something is
• estar = where something is / how something is

Junto al means next to, beside, or right by.

It comes from:

• junto a = next to / beside
• al = a + el

So:

• junto al imperdible = next to the safety pin

You can think of junto a as a fixed expression meaning beside.

Examples:

• El libro está junto a la lámpara. = The book is next to the lamp.
• Estoy junto a la puerta. = I’m next to the door.

Because in Spanish, a + el contracts to al.

So:

• junto a el imperdible ❌
• junto al imperdible ✅

This contraction is mandatory in normal Spanish whenever a is followed by the masculine singular article el.

A similar contraction is:

• de + el = del

Examples:

• Voy al mercado.
• Viene del colegio.

One important exception: if El is part of a proper name, you do not contract.

Example:

• Voy a El Escorial. ✅

Because all three nouns in this sentence are masculine singular nouns:

• el dedal
• el imperdible
• el alfiler

In Spanish, nouns have grammatical gender, and the article has to match.

A learner might expect words ending in -e or consonants to be unpredictable, and that is true: you often just have to learn the gender with the noun.

So it is best to memorize them as whole units:

• el dedal
• el imperdible
• el alfiler

not just the bare nouns by themselves.

Spanish often repeats the article with each noun in a list, especially when talking about separate, specific objects.

So:

• el imperdible y el alfiler sounds natural and clear.

If you said:

• el imperdible y alfiler

it would sound incomplete or unnatural in this context.

Repeating the article helps show that these are two distinct nouns:

• the safety pin
• and the pin

This is very common in Spanish:

• la mesa y la silla
• el lápiz y el bolígrafo
• la madre y el padre

Not really in this sentence. Here it is part of the expression junto a, which functions like a prepositional phrase meaning next to or beside.

So it is best to learn:

• junto a = next to

rather than trying to analyze junto by itself first.

You may also see:

• juntos / juntas as adjectives meaning together or close together

For example:

• Están juntos. = They are together.

But in your sentence, the key unit is junto a.

Even if the meaning has already been given, this is a very common vocabulary question.

In Spain Spanish:

• imperdible usually means safety pin
• alfiler usually means pin or straight pin

So they are not the same object.

That is why the sentence mentions both:

• the thimble is next to the safety pin
• and the pin

The accent mark in está shows that the stress falls on the last syllable:

• es-TÁ

Without the accent, esta is a different word:

• esta = this (feminine)
• está = is

So the written accent is important because it distinguishes two different words.

Pronunciation guide:

• está ≈ es-TA

The final a is clear and short, not reduced like the English uh sound.

In Spain Spanish, the j in junto is pronounced with a strong throaty sound, somewhat like the ch in Scottish loch or German Bach.

So:

• junto ≈ HOON-toh, but with a rougher initial sound than English h

The u is pronounced clearly:

• jun- = hoon- roughly

And the stress is on the first syllable:

• JUN-to

This j sound is very different from the English j in job.

Yes. In many situations, al lado de and junto a mean almost the same thing.

So you could also say:

• El dedal está al lado del imperdible y el alfiler.

That means essentially the same thing: The thimble is next to the safety pin and the pin.

A small grammar note:

• de + el = del

So:

• al lado de el imperdible ❌
• al lado del imperdible ✅

Both junto a and al lado de are very common.

Yes, the most natural reading is that the thimble is next to the safety pin and the pin as a grouped idea.

In other words, the thimble is located beside those two items.

If context mattered, a speaker could also rephrase for extra clarity, for example:

• El dedal está junto al imperdible y junto al alfiler.

That makes it more explicit that the thimble is next to each one.

But your original sentence is normal and natural.

The structure is:

• El dedal = subject
• está = verb
• junto al imperdible y el alfiler = location phrase

So the pattern is:

• Subject + estar + location

This is one of the most common sentence patterns in Spanish when describing where something is.

Examples:

• El libro está en la mesa.
• La aguja está junto al hilo.
• El vaso está sobre la silla.

Very often, yes.

Spanish uses definite articles like el and la more often than English does, especially when referring to specific objects or when naming things in a general, concrete way.

Here, the articles are completely natural:

• El dedal
• el imperdible
• el alfiler

In English, you might sometimes drop an article in certain styles, but Spanish usually keeps it.

So for learners, it is safer to include the article unless you know there is a reason not to.