Log inSign up

El teléfono no está en la mesa.

El teléfono no está en la mesa.
The phone is not on the table.
From Lesson 11:Locative adverbs (aquí, allí)·Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about El teléfono no está en la mesa.

Why do we use está instead of es for "is" in this sentence?
In Spanish, we use the verb estar (which gives us está here) to talk about location—where something is physically placed. We always use estar for locations, even if the object itself is permanent. We save ser (like es) for describing permanent traits or identifying what something is.
I thought en meant "in". Why does the translation say "on the table"?
The Spanish preposition en is very flexible and can mean "in", "on", or "at" depending on the context. Since a phone normally rests on the surface of a table, en la mesa is naturally understood as "on the table". If you ever need to be extremely specific that it is "on top of", you could use sobre.
How does the word order for no work here?
To make a sentence negative in Spanish, you simply put no directly before the main verb. In English we say "is not", but in Spanish the order is "not is" (no está).
If I wanted to use a locative adverb like aquí (here) from this lesson, where would it go in this sentence?
You can add it right after the verb to specify the location even more! For example, El teléfono no está aquí en la mesa translates to "The phone is not here on the table."

Learn El teléfono no está en la mesa 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 →