Las cinco llaves están en la mesa.

Questions & Answers about Las cinco llaves están en la mesa.

Does the number cinco need to be feminine to match las llaves?
No, numbers from two to ten never change their endings for masculine or feminine words. It is always cinco, whether you are counting las llaves (feminine) or los libros (masculine). Only the number one (un / una) changes for gender.
Why does this sentence use están instead of son for "are"?
In Spanish, you use the verb estar (which becomes están for plural objects) when you are talking about where something is located. Because the keys are physically on the table, we use estar rather than ser.
I thought en meant "in", but the translation says "on". Is that right?
Yes! The Spanish word en is very flexible. It can mean "in", "on", or "at" depending on the context. Since keys are usually placed on top of a table, "on" is the most natural English translation here.
Why does cinco go before llaves? Don't Spanish describing words usually come after the noun?
While descriptive words like colors do usually come after the noun, numbers are an exception. Cardinal numbers like cinco always go right before the noun they are counting.

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