Breakdown of El zapato está debajo del sillón.
el zapato
the shoe
estar
to be (location/state)
debajo de
under
el sillón
armchair
Questions & Answers about El zapato está debajo del sillón.
Why does it say del sillón instead of de el sillón?
The phrase for "under" is debajo de. Because "the armchair" is el sillón, you need both de and el. In Spanish, whenever de is followed directly by the masculine article el, they must combine into the contraction del.
Can I just say debajo sillón without the del?
No, complex prepositions of place like debajo de always need the de attached. Furthermore, Spanish requires the definite article (el) before specific nouns in this type of location sentence. When you put de and el together, you get del.
Why do we use está instead of es here?
What is the difference between a silla and a sillón?