La biblioteca está lejos de mi casa.

the house

Breakdown of La biblioteca está lejos de mi casa.

• mi: my
• estar: to be
• la biblioteca: the library

Questions & Answers about La biblioteca está lejos de mi casa.

Why is it está and not es?

Spanish uses estar to talk about the location of physical things and places. So you say La biblioteca está lejos.... Use ser for events or inherent characteristics. For example: La boda es en la biblioteca (the wedding takes place in the library). La biblioteca es lejos is not idiomatic.

What’s the difference between está and esta?

• está (with an accent) is the 3rd person singular of the verb estar: La biblioteca está...
• esta (no accent) is the demonstrative adjective meaning “this (feminine)”: esta biblioteca = “this library.” They are different words with different functions.

Why is it lejos de and not lejos a or lejos desde?

With lejos, Spanish uses the preposition de to mark the point you’re far from: lejos de mi casa. You don’t say lejos a. desde means “from (starting point)” and isn’t used directly after lejos.

What kind of word is lejos? Does it change form?

Lejos is an adverb, so it doesn’t change for gender or number. You can modify it with intensifiers: muy lejos, bastante lejos, demasiado lejos, tan lejos. For comparisons: más/menos lejos (que).