El rey vive en el bosque.

The king lives in the forest.

Breakdown of El rey vive en el bosque.

• en: in
• el bosque: the forest
• vivir: to live
• el rey: the king

Questions & Answers about El rey vive en el bosque.

Why are there two instances of el in El rey vive en el bosque?

They’re the same word: the masculine singular definite article el (the). Spanish normally requires a definite article before most nouns, so you get el before rey (king) and again before bosque (forest).

Could you use an indefinite article and say El rey vive en un bosque instead?

Yes—but the meaning changes.

• el bosque = “the forest” (a specific forest or forests in general)
• un bosque = “a forest” (any, non-specified forest)

What person and tense is vive?

vive is the third-person singular present indicative of the verb vivir (“to live”). It literally means “he/she/it lives” (or polite “you live”).

Why is vivir used instead of estar to talk about location?

• vivir en = “to live in” (indicates residence or permanent/semi-permanent location)
• estar en = “to be in” (indicates a temporary location or state)
  So El rey vive en el bosque tells us the king’s home is the forest, not just that he’s there right now.

Why isn’t en el contracted to something like enl?