Learn Spanish (Spain): Las cebollas y las zanahorias están allí.

Las cebollas y las zanahorias están allí.

The onions and the carrots are there.

Breakdown of Las cebollas y las zanahorias están allí.

and

estar

to be (location/state)

Questions & Answers about Las cebollas y las zanahorias están allí.

Why do we use están instead of son to say "are" in this sentence?

Even though both ser and estar mean "to be", Spanish strictly uses estar for talking about locations. Because we are stating where the vegetables are, we must use están (they are) rather than son.

What is the difference between allí and aquí?

Allí means "there" or "over there", referring to a place that is relatively far away from the person speaking. If the vegetables were right next to you, you would use aquí, which means "here".

Why do we need to use las twice?

Both cebolla (onion) and zanahoria (carrot) are feminine nouns. Because they are plural here, they both take the feminine plural article las (the). Unlike in English, where you can say "the onions and carrots", in Spanish it is much more natural to repeat the article for every noun in a list.

Why is there an accent mark on the letter 'a' in están?

The written accent mark tells you to put the spoken emphasis on that last syllable (es-TAN). Without the accent mark, the standard rules of Spanish pronunciation would force you to stress the first syllable instead.