El coche está demasiado cerca del bordillo.

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.

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.

Because cerca is normally followed by de in Spanish.

So the pattern is:

• cerca de = near
• lejos de = far from

Examples:

• Está cerca de la puerta = It’s near the door.
• Estamos lejos del centro = We are far from the centre.

So in your sentence:

• cerca del bordillo = near the curb

You cannot normally say cerca el bordillo.

Del is the contraction of de + el.

So:

• de + el = del

That means:

• cerca del bordillo = cerca de el bordillo

But in correct Spanish, you must contract it to del.

A similar contraction is:

• a + el = al

Examples:

• Voy al coche = I’m going to the car.
• Está cerca del bordillo = It’s near the curb.

In Spain, bordillo means the curb or kerb: the raised edge between the road and the pavement/sidewalk.

This is a good Spain-specific word to know.

Related words:

• la acera = pavement / sidewalk
• el bordillo = curb / kerb
• la calle = street

So el coche está demasiado cerca del bordillo means the car is too near that raised edge of the pavement.

Spanish often uses the definite article where English might say the, a, or sometimes nothing at all depending on context.

Here, El coche means the car. It sounds natural because the speaker is talking about a particular car that both speaker and listener can identify from the situation.

If you wanted a car, you would say:

• Un coche está demasiado cerca del bordillo

But that sounds less natural unless you are introducing it as some car rather than a specific one.

Yes, but the meaning changes.

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

So:

• El coche está muy cerca del bordillo = The car is very close to the curb.
• El coche está demasiado cerca del bordillo = The car is too close to the curb.

The second one implies that this is excessive or undesirable.

Yes, Spanish word order is fairly flexible, though the original sentence is the most neutral and natural.

Standard order:

• El coche está demasiado cerca del bordillo.

You could also hear:

• Está demasiado cerca del bordillo, el coche.

But that sounds marked, as if you are adding emphasis or clarifying what you mean.

For most learners, the safest version is the original one: subject + estar + adverb + cerca de + noun

Not really in the same way as an ordinary adjective like rojo or grande.

In expressions like estar cerca de, cerca behaves more like an adverbial word or a fixed locational expression.

That is why it works like this:

• Está cerca de la puerta
• Estamos cerca del centro

You do not usually make it agree like a normal adjective:

• not cerco / cerca / cercos / cercas in this meaning

So it is best to learn cerca de as a chunk meaning near.

Using del suggests a specific curb in the situation being discussed.

• del bordillo = of/from the curb, meaning a particular curb
• de un bordillo = from a curb, any curb

In real-life context, if someone is parking a car, there is usually an obvious curb right there, so del bordillo is the natural choice.

The sentence already sounds natural and everyday in Spain.

A few similar everyday versions would be:

• El coche está muy pegado al bordillo. = The car is very close/right up against the curb.
• Está demasiado cerca del bordillo. = It’s too close to the curb.
• Se ha quedado demasiado cerca del bordillo. = It’s ended up too close to the curb.

But your original sentence is clear, neutral, and completely natural.

Not necessarily. Bordillo is especially standard in Spain.

In other Spanish-speaking countries, people may use different words depending on the region. So if you are learning Spanish from Spain, bordillo is a very useful and appropriate word.

This is a good example of regional vocabulary: the grammar is standard Spanish, but one noun may vary from country to country.