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El reloj no está en el cajón.

El reloj no está en el cajón.
The watch is not in the drawer.
From Lesson 66:Indefinite and negative pronouns (algo, nada, alguien, nadie)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about El reloj no está en el cajón.

Why is no placed before está? In English we say "is not".
In Spanish, the negative word no always goes directly before the verb it affects. So instead of "is not", you say no está (literally "not is").
The current lesson is about words like nada (nothing). Could I use nada here instead of no?
No, you use no when you just want to make a verb negative (like saying "is not"). Nada specifically means "nothing" or "anything". If you said El reloj nada está en el cajón, it would sound like "The watch nothing is in the drawer," which doesn't make sense.
Why do we use está here instead of es?
Both estar and ser mean "to be", but we use estar (and its form está) to talk about location—where something is right now. Since we're talking about where the watch is, you have to use está.
Does reloj mean "watch" or "clock"?
It means both! Spanish uses the same word, reloj, for a watch you wear on your wrist, an alarm clock on your nightstand, and a clock on the wall. You just have to guess from the context.
Is cajón (drawer) related to the word caja (box)?
Yes! A cajón is essentially a box that slides into a piece of furniture. Adding -ón to the end of a noun often means "big" in Spanish, so a cajón is literally a "big box".

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