Questions & Answers about Abajo hay una sala grande.
The lesson is about prepositions like 'debajo de' (under). Why does this sentence use 'abajo' instead?
Abajo is an adverb meaning 'down' or 'downstairs'. You use it to describe a general location when you do not mention what it is under. If you wanted to say the living room is under something specific, you would use the preposition debajo de (for example, debajo de mi dormitorio meaning 'under my bedroom'). Because we are not naming the thing it is under here, we just use abajo.
Does 'abajo' always mean 'downstairs'?
Not always! Abajo generally means 'down', 'below', or 'underneath'. When talking about houses or multi-level buildings, it naturally translates to 'downstairs'. If you were outside looking at a hill, it would simply mean 'down' or 'at the bottom'.
Why do we use 'hay' here instead of 'está'?
We use hay (there is / there are) to state that something exists. Because we are introducing 'a big living room' (una sala grande) for the first time as a new piece of information, we use hay. If we were talking about a specific living room we already know about, we would use está to give its location: La sala grande está abajo (The big living room is downstairs).
Learn Abajo hay una sala grande 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