Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): La mesa está contra la pared.

Use estar for:
- physical location: La mesa está contra la pared. (The table is located against the wall.)
- temporary states: Estoy cansado. (I’m tired.)
Use ser for:
- permanent or defining characteristics: La mesa es grande. (The table is big.)
- identity, time, origin, profession, etc.

So, because we’re talking about where the table is, Spanish requires está, not es.
Saying La mesa es contra la pared is incorrect.

What exactly does contra mean here? Is it like against, versus, or near?

In this sentence, contra means physically against / up against / touching.

La mesa está contra la pared.
→ The table is right up against the wall, likely touching it.

Other uses of contra:

España contra Francia – Spain versus France (in sports, etc.)
vacuna contra la gripe – vaccine against the flu.

So in position descriptions like this, contra ≈ up against, not just "near."

What’s the difference between contra la pared, junto a la pared, al lado de la pared, and cerca de la pared?

They all describe proximity to the wall, but with different nuances:

contra la pared – up against the wall, usually touching.
junto a la pared – next to / by the wall; often also very close, possibly touching.
al lado de la pared – beside the wall; next to it, but doesn’t necessarily imply contact.
cerca de la pared – near the wall; in the area close to the wall, not necessarily right next to it.

So contra is the strongest for physical contact.

Why do we say la mesa and la pared? Can I drop the la like in English (“Table is against the wall”)?

No. In Spanish you normally must use the article with specific, countable nouns:

La mesa está contra la pared. ✅
Mesa está contra pared. ❌ (sounds very wrong)

English can omit the article in some contexts (“Table is ready” on a restaurant ticket), but standard Spanish needs it unless:

you speak very telegraphically (e.g., notes, headlines), or
the noun is used in a very idiomatic article-less expression (not the case here).

So in normal speech/writing: La mesa, la pared.

Why are mesa and pared feminine? Is there a rule?

Both mesa and pared are grammatically feminine, so they take la:

la mesa, la pared.

General patterns:

Nouns ending in -a are often feminine: la mesa, la casa, la puerta.
Nouns ending in -d, -z, -ión are often feminine: la pared, la ciudad, la nariz, la canción.

But gender is largely arbitrary and must be memorized:

el día (masculine despite ending in -a)
la mano (feminine despite ending in -o)

So: learn new nouns together with their article (la mesa, not just mesa).

What’s the difference between pared and muro? Could I say La mesa está contra el muro?

You can say La mesa está contra el muro, but it sounds different:

pared: an indoor or partition wall, the normal word for walls of a room or building interior.
- La mesa está contra la pared del salón.
muro: a thicker, often exterior or freestanding wall (like a stone wall, city wall, boundary wall).
- El castillo tiene un muro muy alto.

In a typical room in a house or flat in Spain, pared is the natural word, so the original sentence is the most idiomatic.

Why is there no word for “it” as a subject, like “It is against the wall”?

Spanish usually doesn’t use an explicit “it” subject:

English: It is against the wall.
Spanish: Está contra la pared. (subject implied from context)

In your full sentence:

La mesa is the subject: La mesa está contra la pared.
You don’t add an extra pronoun like ella or eso for “it” in this kind of sentence.

Subject pronouns (yo, tú, él, ella, etc.) are only used when:

necessary for clarity, or
you want to emphasize who is doing something.

For objects like a table or a wall, Spanish simply omits “it.”

Could I say Hay una mesa contra la pared? How is that different from La mesa está contra la pared?

Both are correct but used in different situations:

Hay una mesa contra la pared.
- Introduces the existence of a table in the room: There is a table against the wall.
- You use hay when mentioning something for the first time / saying it exists somewhere.
La mesa está contra la pared.
- Describes where a known or specific table is: The table is against the wall.
- You use está to give the location of that particular table.

So:

Talking about what’s in the room → Hay…
Talking about where a specific thing is → Está…

Can I change the word order and say Contra la pared está la mesa?

Yes, but the nuance changes.

La mesa está contra la pared.
→ neutral, most natural word order.
Contra la pared está la mesa.
→ perfectly correct, but sounds more emphatic or stylistic. You might use it:
- in descriptive or literary style,
- to contrast with something else:
  En el centro hay sillas; contra la pared está la mesa.

In everyday speech, keep: La mesa está contra la pared.

Could I just say Está contra la pared without La mesa?

Yes, if the subject is already clear from context:

Someone asks: ¿Dónde está la mesa?
You answer: Está contra la pared.
(You don’t need to repeat la mesa.)

But if you’re starting a new sentence with no clear previous reference, you should say the full version:
La mesa está contra la pared.

If I add adjectives, where do they go and how do they agree? For example: “The big table is against the white wall.”

Adjectives usually go after the noun and must agree in gender and number:

La mesa grande está contra la pared blanca.
- mesa (feminine singular) → grande (feminine singular form is the same as masculine here)
- pared (feminine singular) → blanca (feminine singular; masculine would be blanco)

More examples:

Las mesas grandes están contra las paredes blancas.
- mesas (feminine plural) → grandes
- paredes (feminine plural) → blancas

So: noun + agreeing adjective(s), usually after the noun.