Learn Spanish (Spain): ¿Dónde está mi bolígrafo?

¿Dónde está mi bolígrafo?

Where is my pen?

Breakdown of ¿Dónde está mi bolígrafo?

dónde

where

estar

to be (location/state)

el bolígrafo

the pen

Questions & Answers about ¿Dónde está mi bolígrafo?

Why do we use está here instead of es for 'is'?

In Spanish, there are two verbs for 'to be': ser and estar. You always use estar when talking about the physical location of things or people. Since you are asking where the pen is located, you use está.

Why does the word Dónde have an accent mark?

Question words in Spanish always get an accent mark when they are used to ask a question. This rule applies to words like dónde (where), cómo (how), and qué (what).

If I were looking for two pens, would I still use mi?

No, you would use mis. In Spanish, possessive words like mi (my) must change to match the number of things you are talking about. If you are looking for multiple pens, it becomes mis bolígrafos and the verb would change to están.

What is the purpose of the upside-down question mark (¿)?

Spanish uses an inverted question mark at the very beginning of a question. This is a helpful signal for the reader to know they should read the sentence as a question right from the first word.