El estropajo nuevo está debajo del fregadero, junto a la lejía.

Because this sentence is talking about location.

In Spanish, estar is normally used for where something or someone is:

• El estropajo está debajo del fregadero.
• Madrid está en España.

Ser is used for identity, description, origin, and similar ideas, not for physical location in sentences like this.

So here, está means is located.

In Spain, estropajo usually means a scouring pad or scrubbing pad, the rough thing used for cleaning dishes or pans.

It is not exactly the same as a soft sponge. A sponge is more often esponja.

So:

• estropajo = scrubber / scouring pad
• esponja = sponge

In Spanish, adjectives often come after the noun.

So the normal, neutral order is:

• el estropajo nuevo = the new scrubbing pad

Putting the adjective before the noun is sometimes possible, but it can sound more literary, emphatic, or slightly different in nuance.

For a beginner, the safest pattern is:

• noun + adjective
• el coche rojo
• la casa grande
• el estropajo nuevo

Because de + el contracts to del.

So:

• de + el = del
• a + el = al

Examples:

• debajo del fregadero
• al lado del horno

But this contraction does not happen with la, los, or las:

• debajo de la mesa
• al lado de los platos

The basic expression is debajo de, which means under or underneath.

So the structure is:

• debajo de + noun

Examples:

• debajo de la cama
• debajo del fregadero

Since de + el = del, debajo de el fregadero becomes debajo del fregadero.

A very literal breakdown is:

• debajo = underneath
• de = of/from
• debajo del fregadero = underneath the sink

Yes. Bajo el fregadero is also correct and means under the sink.

In many everyday contexts:

• debajo del fregadero
• bajo el fregadero

mean basically the same thing.

Debajo de often feels a little more explicitly physical, like underneath, while bajo is shorter and very common too.

Not exactly.

In Spain:

• fregadero = kitchen sink
• lavabo = bathroom sink / washbasin

So in this sentence, fregadero is the correct word if you mean the sink in the kitchen, especially where dishes are washed.

This is a useful distinction because English often just says sink for both.

Junto a means next to, beside, or close to.

So:

• junto a la lejía = next to the bleach

It is very similar to al lado de:

• junto a la lejía
• al lado de la lejía

Both are natural. In many situations, they are interchangeable.

Very roughly:

• junto a can feel slightly more formal or written
• al lado de is extremely common in everyday speech

In Spain, lejía means bleach.

It is a feminine noun, so it takes la:

• la lejía

This is a common household word in Spain. A learner of Latin American Spanish might hear different cleaning-product terms more often depending on the country, but in Spain lejía is very standard.

Spanish uses definite articles very often, sometimes more often than English.

Here, the speaker is talking about specific, identifiable things:

• the scrubbing pad
• the sink
• the bleach

So Spanish naturally says:

• el estropajo
• el fregadero
• la lejía

Even when English might sometimes sound okay without an article in certain contexts, Spanish often still wants one.

From the articles:

• el estropajo → masculine
• el fregadero → masculine
• la lejía → feminine

The adjective must agree with the noun it describes. Here:

• estropajo is masculine singular
• so the adjective is nuevo, not nueva

If the noun were feminine, it would change:

• la esponja nueva

Lejía is pronounced roughly like leh-HEE-ah.

The accent mark shows where the stress goes:

• le-JÍ-a

It also helps show that í-a is pronounced in separate syllables rather than being merged together.

Also remember:

• the j in Spanish is a strong throaty sound, not an English j
• so lejía does not sound like English lee-jee-a

A rough guide in Spain-style pronunciation:

• estropajo ≈ es-tro-PA-ho
• fregadero ≈ fre-ga-DE-ro

A couple of useful points:

• j in estropajo sounds like the Spanish throaty h
• g in fregadero is a normal hard g sound because it comes before a

So:

• estropajo does not have an English j sound
• fregadero does not sound like English fridge

The comma is not essential for the basic meaning.

You could say:

• El estropajo nuevo está debajo del fregadero junto a la lejía.

and it would still be understandable.

The comma simply helps separate the location details and makes the sentence easier to read:

• debajo del fregadero
• junto a la lejía

So it is mainly a punctuation/style choice here.

Yes. Then the sentence would simply be:

• El estropajo está debajo del fregadero, junto a la lejía.

Adding nuevo just gives extra information: it tells you that it is the new scrubbing pad, not some other one.

So nuevo is descriptive, not grammatically required.

In practical terms, it describes the location of the scrubbing pad.

The sentence means the scrubbing pad is:

• under the sink
• next to the bleach

So both location phrases work together with está to tell you where the scrubbing pad is.

A learner might wonder whether it means the sink next to the bleach, but the most natural reading is that the scrubbing pad is under the sink and next to the bleach.

It follows a very common Spanish pattern:

• subject + adjective + estar + place

More exactly:

• El estropajo nuevo = subject
• está = verb
• debajo del fregadero, junto a la lejía = location

So a useful model is:

• [thing] + está + [place]

For example:

• La botella está en la mesa.
• Las llaves están junto a la puerta.
• El estropajo nuevo está debajo del fregadero.