Learn Spanish (Latin America): El aeropuerto está lejos de aquí.

El aeropuerto está lejos de aquí.

The airport is far from here.

Breakdown of El aeropuerto está lejos de aquí.

to be (location/state)

lejos

far

Questions & Answers about El aeropuerto está lejos de aquí.

Why do we use está here instead of hay?

We use está because we are talking about a specific place: el aeropuerto (the airport). We only use hay when talking about unspecific things or asking if something exists, like if we were asking if there is an airport nearby (¿Hay un aeropuerto por aquí?).

Why do we use está instead of es? Doesn't an airport stay in one place permanently?

Yes, the airport doesn't move! But in Spanish, we always use the verb estar to talk about the physical location of people, places, or things, no matter how permanent that location is.

Why is there a de after lejos?

The word lejos by itself just means "far." When you want to specify what the place is far from, you must use the phrase lejos de (far from). So, lejos de aquí means "far from here."

Why does está have an accent mark on the last letter?

The accent mark tells you to put your spoken emphasis on the last syllable (es-TA). It also helps tell this verb apart from the word esta (without the accent), which means "this" (as in esta ciudad - this city).