Place
Where is it, or where does it happen?
Meaning
Place tells us where someone or something is, or where an event happens. We can locate it inside something, on a surface, or beside another thing. Languages use separate words, endings, or context, and some have no special place endings. Unlike Direction and destination, Place describes where something is or happens, not where it is going.
How to spot it
Look for the part that answers where someone or something is or where an event happens, rather than where it is going.
In your native language
English uses prepositions such as in, on, and at before a place, and words such as here and outside on their own. In often marks being inside an area, on often marks a surface, and at can mark a point or a place linked to an activity. The usual choice also depends on the particular place phrase.
Your keys are on the shelf.
On locates the keys on a surface.
Ben is at work.
At work is the usual phrase for being at one's workplace.
The children are playing in the garden.
In says where they are playing, not where they are going.
In your learning language
Spanish marks location with prepositions and phrases such as en, debajo de, and junto a. Estar locates an identified person or thing, while hay introduces the presence of something in a place. Place expressions can also accompany an action without either verb.
Las llaves están en el cajón.
The keys are in the drawer.
Están locates the keys, and en places them inside the drawer.
Hay una panadería junto a la estación.
There is a bakery next to the station.
Hay introduces the bakery; junto a gives its location.
Marta trabaja en una tienda del centro.
Marta works in a store downtown.
Learners whose language has only one verb for location and identity may use ser instead of estar. Learners whose language marks location with noun endings need to learn which Spanish preposition fits each relation.