Log inSign up

El hombre no está en el hotel, está en el cine.

El hombre no está en el hotel, está en el cine.
The man is not in the hotel, he is in the cinema.
From Lesson 15:The preposition en (en)·Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about El hombre no está en el hotel, está en el cine.

Why do we use en for both 'in the hotel' and 'in the cinema'?
In Spanish, the preposition en is very versatile. It covers both 'in' (inside a place) and 'at' (a general location). So whether you mean 'in the hotel' or 'at the cinema', you just use en. You do not have to worry about choosing between 'in' or 'at' like you do in English!
Why does the sentence use está instead of es for 'is'?
We use está (from the verb estar) because we are talking about a physical location. A great rule to remember is to always use estar when saying where someone or something is currently located.
The second part of the sentence just says está en el cine. Where is the word for 'he'?
In Spanish, you can drop the subject pronoun (like él for 'he') if it is already clear who you are talking about. Since we just mentioned el hombre (the man) in the first half of the sentence, we do not need to say él. The verb form está already tells us we are still talking about him.
Why is no placed before está?
To make a statement negative in Spanish, you simply put no right in front of the verb. While English says 'is not', Spanish turns it around to 'not is' (no está).

Learn El hombre no está en el hotel, está en el cine 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 →