Breakdown of Las botas están en el garaje y los guantes en mi bolsillo.
en
in
mi
my
estar
to be
y
and
el bolsillo
the pocket
la bota
the boot
el guante
the glove
el garaje
the garage
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Questions & Answers about Las botas están en el garaje y los guantes en mi bolsillo.
Why is it las botas, los guantes, el garaje, and mi bolsillo? What genders are these nouns?
- bota is feminine; plural: las botas.
- guante is masculine; plural: los guantes.
- garaje is masculine; singular: el garaje.
- bolsillo is masculine; singular: el bolsillo. With the possessive it’s mi bolsillo (“my pocket”). Spanish articles must agree in gender and number with the noun.
Why use están and not son?
Use estar for location. Las botas están en el garaje says where the boots are. Ser is not used for location of things (except events).
Why plural están and not singular está?
Because the subject is plural: las botas and later los guantes. If you rephrased with a singular head noun, you’d use singular: El par de botas está en el garaje.
Why en and not a or por?
- en = “in/on/at” for location: en el garaje, en mi bolsillo.
- a indicates movement/direction: Voy al garaje (“I’m going to the garage”).
- por is “through/along/because of,” not a static location.
Why en el and not al or del?
Only a + el contracts to al, and de + el to del. en + el does not contract, so it stays en el garaje.
Could I say hay instead of están?
Different meaning:
- Hay botas en el garaje = “There are boots in the garage” (existence, nonspecific).
- Las botas están en el garaje = “The boots are in the garage” (specific boots you and I know about).
Why is there no están in the second half? Is “los guantes en mi bolsillo” okay?
Yes. Spanish often drops a repeated verb for brevity: Las botas están en el garaje y (están) los guantes en mi bolsillo. In writing you can mark the ellipsis with a comma: Los guantes, en mi bolsillo.
Should there be a comma before y?
Normally no: … en el garaje y … is correct. You might use a semicolon or comma for balance in more formal writing: Las botas están en el garaje; los guantes, en mi bolsillo.
Do I need to say mis guantes if they’re my gloves?
Not necessarily. Los guantes can mean “the gloves” already known from context. If you want to make ownership explicit, use mis guantes: … y mis guantes en mi bolsillo.
Why mi bolsillo and not el bolsillo?
Both are possible, but they’re used differently:
- With body parts/clothing, Spanish often uses the definite article when the possessor is obvious from the verb: Me metí los guantes en el bolsillo (“I put the gloves in my pocket”).
- In a simple location sentence without such a verb, mi bolsillo makes the possessor clear: … los guantes en mi bolsillo.
Should it be mis bolsillos (plural) instead of mi bolsillo?
Use singular or plural according to reality:
- … en mi bolsillo = both gloves in one pocket.
- … en mis bolsillos = one in each pocket (or both pockets involved).
Pronunciation tips?
- garaje: ga-RA-heh (the Spanish j is a throaty “h”).
- guantes: GWAHN-tes (the gua sounds like “gwa”).
- bolsillo: bol-SEE-yo (in most of Spain, ll sounds like English “y”).
- están: es-TÁN (stress the last syllable).
Why does están have an accent, and why mi has none?
- están needs the accent to show stress on the last syllable (otherwise it would be ES-tan).
- mi (my) has no accent; mí (me, as a pronoun after prepositions) does. Here it’s a possessive adjective, so mi.
Are boots and gloves always plural in Spanish?
The nouns have singular forms: la bota, el guante. Use plurals for pairs: las botas, los guantes. To emphasize the pair idea, you can say un par de botas/guantes.
Can I change the word order?
Yes, for emphasis or style:
- En el garaje están las botas y en mi bolsillo, los guantes.
- Las botas, en el garaje; los guantes, en mi bolsillo. The meaning stays the same.
Is garaje the usual word in Spain? What about aparcamiento or cochera?
In Spain:
- garaje = private garage (for a house/building) or a commercial garage.
- aparcamiento = parking lot/parking area.
- cochera exists but is less common for a home garage; it can mean a bus depot or a private garage in some regions. For this sentence, garaje is the natural choice.
Does y ever change to e?
Yes, y becomes e before words starting with the “i” sound (i- or hi-): padres e hijos, carne e hígado. Not needed here because the next word is los, not an i/hi word.