El coche está demasiado cerca del bordillo.

The car is too close to the curb.

Breakdown of El coche está demasiado cerca del bordillo.

• estar: to be
• demasiado: too
• el coche: the car
• cerca de: close to

Questions & Answers about El coche está demasiado cerca del bordillo.

Why is it está and not es?

Because this sentence describes the car’s position/location, and Spanish normally uses estar for location.

• El coche está... = the car is...
• You use estar for where something is.
• Ser is more for identity, what something is, or more permanent descriptions.

So:

• El coche está cerca del bordillo = the car is near the curb.
• El coche es rojo = the car is red.

Even though the car may be parked there for a while, Spanish still treats location as something expressed with estar.

What does demasiado mean here?

Here, demasiado means too.

So:

• demasiado cerca = too close

This is different from muy, which means very:

• muy cerca = very close
• demasiado cerca = too close

So demasiado suggests a problem: the car is closer than it should be.

Why is it cerca del bordillo and not just cerca el bordillo?