Learn Spanish (Latin America): ¿Dónde está el sexto edificio?

¿Dónde está el sexto edificio?

Where is the sixth building?

Breakdown of ¿Dónde está el sexto edificio?

estar

to be (location/state)

Questions & Answers about ¿Dónde está el sexto edificio?

Why is the ordinal number sexto placed before the noun edificio?

Unlike most descriptive adjectives in Spanish (which usually come after the noun, like el edificio alto for "the tall building"), ordinal numbers like sexto (sixth) almost always come before the noun they describe.

I learned that some ordinal numbers drop their final "o". Why doesn't sexto do that here?

You only drop the final "o" for primero (first) and tercero (third) when they come directly before a masculine singular noun, making them primer and tercer. The other ordinal numbers from 1st to 10th, including sexto, do not drop their endings. Since edificio is masculine, it just stays sexto.

Why do we use está instead of es in this sentence?

We use está (from the verb estar) because we are asking about the physical location of the building. A great rule to remember is that you always use estar for locations, even if that location is permanent like a building.

What happens if I forget the accent mark on está?