When you put the verb estar or haber after the question word ¿Dónde, these both mean "Where is...?". However, they are used in different situations. In this lesson, we will learn when to use ¿Dónde está? and ¿Dónde hay? in Spanish.
¿Dónde está? vs ¿Dónde hay?
Let's take a look at the two sentences below:
¿Dónde está la casa de los Simpson? - Where is the Simpsons' house?
¿Dónde hay un policía? - Where is a police officer?
In the first sentence, you are looking for a specific place which is Simpsons' house. In the second sentence, you are looking for just any police officer.
The first sentence uses the definite article "la" (the) while the indefinite one "un" (a) is used in the second sentence.
This means that ¿Dónde está is used to ask for the location of a specific person or thing and often goes with a definite article (el, la, los, las). With nouns that can't have a specific location, ¿Dónde hay must be used.
¿Dónde está...? = Where is the...?
¿Dónde hay...? = Where is a...?
You can read this article for a more specific guide on how to use the verb estar: Estar in Spanish.
See the examples below:
¿Dónde está el autobús escolar de Otto? - Where is Otto's school bus?
¿Dónde hay una librería? - Where is a book store?
¿Dónde hay un cajero automático? - Where is an ATM?
¿Dónde está mi saxofón? - Where is my saxophone?