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Las chicas están en la escuela.

Las chicas están en la escuela.
The girls are in the school.
From Lesson 15:The preposition en (en)·Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about Las chicas están en la escuela.

Does en mean "in" or "at" here?
En is a very handy preposition because it means both "in" and "at"! In English, we often worry about whether someone is physically inside a building ("in") or just generally attending the location ("at"). Spanish keeps it simple: en la escuela covers both meanings perfectly.
Why do we use están instead of son for "are"?
We use están (from the verb estar) because we are talking about a physical location. A great rule of thumb for beginners to remember is: "How you feel and where you are, always use the verb estar." If you used son (from the verb ser), it would sound like being a school is a permanent characteristic of the girls!
Why is there an accent mark on the 'a' in están?
The accent mark tells you to put the spoken stress on that last syllable: es-TÁN. In Spanish, if a word ends in 'n', 's', or a vowel, the stress naturally falls on the second-to-last syllable. The accent mark breaks that default rule so we know exactly how to pronounce it.
In Spain, is it more common to say la escuela or el colegio?
You will hear both in Spain! However, el colegio (very often shortened to just el cole) is extremely common when talking about primary schools or middle schools. La escuela is completely correct and understood, but might sound slightly more general.

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