El descarte está junto al mazo.

Spanish uses estar for location. Since the sentence is saying where something is, está is the correct verb.

• El descarte está junto al mazo = the discard pile is next to the deck.
• If you used es, it would sound wrong here, because ser is generally not used for physical location.

A useful rule is: for location of people or things, use estar.

Here, descarte means the discard pile or the place where discarded cards go.

It comes from the verb descartar, which means to discard or to rule out. In card-game context, el descarte is a noun referring to the cards that have been thrown away.

Depending on the game, English might translate it as:

• the discard pile
• the discard
• the pile of discarded cards

In this sentence, mazo means the deck or pack of cards.

Be aware that mazo can have other meanings in other contexts, such as mallet or hammer, but in card-game language it usually means deck.

So here:

• el mazo = the deck
• el descarte = the discard pile

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

The basic expression is junto a, which means next to. When it is followed by el, it becomes junto al.

So:

• junto a la mesa = next to the table
• junto al mazo = next to the deck

It usually suggests fairly close physical position.

Because in Spanish, a + el normally contracts to al.

So:

• a + el mazo → al mazo

That is why you get junto al mazo.

This contraction is required in normal Spanish. One important exception is when el is part of a proper name, such as a El Escorial.

Both descarte and mazo are masculine singular nouns here, so they take el.

• el descarte
• el mazo

Spanish often uses the definite article more than English does. In a game situation, these are specific, known objects, so the discard pile and the deck naturally appear with el.

In this sentence, you know it is masculine because it uses el: el descarte.

Unlike nouns ending in -o or -a, nouns ending in -e are less predictable. Some are masculine, some are feminine. So with words like descarte, it is best to learn the noun together with its article:

• el descarte
• el mazo

Learning the article with the noun is one of the best habits in Spanish.

The accent mark shows the stressed syllable and distinguishes this verb form from other words spelled similarly.

• está = is
• esta = this (feminine), as in esta carta

So the accent is important both for pronunciation and for meaning.

Yes. Al lado del mazo is a very natural alternative and also means next to the deck.

Compare:

• junto al mazo = next to the deck
• al lado del mazo = at the side of / next to the deck

Both are common. Junto a can sound slightly more compact or formal, while al lado de is extremely common in everyday speech.

You could, but the meaning changes slightly.

• junto al mazo = right next to the deck
• cerca del mazo = near the deck

So cerca de is less exact. It means close to, not necessarily immediately beside.

In standard peninsular Spanish, mazo is pronounced roughly like MA-tho, with the z sounding like the th in think.

A few useful pronunciation notes for the whole sentence:

• descarte → the e sounds are short and clear
• está → stress on the last syllable
• junto → the j is a strong throaty sound, not an English j
• mazo → z in Spain is usually th

A rough Spain-Spanish pronunciation guide would be:

el dehs-KAR-teh es-TAH HOON-toh al MA-thoh

Yes, but El descarte está junto al mazo is the most neutral and straightforward order.

You could also say:

• Junto al mazo está el descarte

This is grammatical, but it sounds more marked or emphatic, as if you are drawing attention to the location first.

For most learners and most normal contexts, the original order is the best one to use.