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El ejército está aquí, pero la base está destruida.

El ejército está aquí, pero la base está destruida.
The army is here, but the base is destroyed.
From Lesson 168:States and conditions (estar)·Spanish (Spain)

Breakdown of El ejército está aquí, pero la base está destruida.

pero
but
estar
to be (location/state)
aquí
here
el ejército
the army
la base
the base
destruir
to destroy

Questions & Answers about El ejército está aquí, pero la base está destruida.

Why is it destruida and not destruido?
In Spanish, when you use estar with a past participle to describe a state or condition (like being destroyed), the past participle acts like an adjective. It must match the noun it describes in gender and number. Since la base is feminine and singular, the participle becomes destruida.
Why do we use está destruida instead of es destruida?
We use estar here because it describes the resulting state or physical condition of the base right now. If we used ser (es destruida), it would describe the action happening at this moment, meaning 'the base is being destroyed' by someone.
Why do we use está for 'The army is here'? Isn't an army a permanent thing?
Even though an army is an institution, we always use estar to talk about the physical location of people, places, or things. For 'is here' (está aquí), you will always use estar, regardless of how permanent the object is.
Why does ejército have an accent mark on the second 'e'?
The spoken emphasis in ejército falls on the third-to-last syllable (e-JÉR-ci-to). In Spanish, any word with the stress on the third-to-last syllable must have a written accent mark to show you exactly where to put the emphasis.

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