Log inSign up

¿De dónde es usted?

¿De dónde es usted?
Where are you from?
From Lesson 25:Asking where (dónde, adónde)·Spanish (Latin America)

Breakdown of ¿De dónde es usted?

ser
to be
de
from / of
usted
you (formal)
dónde
where

Questions & Answers about ¿De dónde es usted?

Why is de at the beginning of the sentence instead of the end?
In English, we often put 'from' at the end of a question ('Where are you from?'). In Spanish, you can never end a sentence with a preposition like de (from). It has to go right before the question word, making it literally 'From where are you?'.
Why does dónde have an accent mark over the 'o'?
In Spanish, question words always get an accent mark when they are used to ask a question (like dónde, qué, or cómo). If you were just stating a fact, like 'the town where I live', it would be written without the accent (donde).
If the sentence means 'Where are you from?', why does it use es instead of eres?
Because this sentence uses usted, the formal version of 'you'. Even though usted means 'you', it always pairs with the same 'he/she/it' verb forms. That is why we use es instead of the informal eres.
Could I use está instead of es here?
No. When you are talking about where someone is from (their origin), you must use the verb ser (which gives us es). If you used está from the verb estar, you would be asking where the person is located right now: ¿Dónde está usted? (Where are you?).
Why does es come before usted? Can I say '¿De dónde usted es?'?
In Spanish questions, it is standard to put the verb (es) right after the question word (dónde), and place the subject (usted) at the end. While people might understand '¿De dónde usted es?', it sounds unnatural to native speakers.

Learn ¿De dónde es usted and more in Spanish

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Spanish →