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¿Dónde está usted? is the formal way of asking "Where are you?".

¿Dónde estás tú? is the familiar way of asking "Where are you?".

¿Dónde está usted? should be said with the pronoun "usted", because

if you don't say it with the pronoun, it could be easily misunderstood for

¿Dónde está? - Where is?

Example

If you were on the phone speaking to your grandmorther and you

wanted to know where she was, and you said, "Abuelita, ¿Dónde está?

She would most likely respond, "Cómo" or ¿Qué? which both words

are used to say, "what?". She would be responding, "Where is what?"

If you say, "¿Dónde está usted? you are saying, "Where are you?"

Question: Where do the verb forms "está and estás" come from?

Answer: "estás and está" come from the verb "estar - to be"

(Chapter Four - Lesson One)

Question: What's the difference between "está" and estás"?

Answer: The difference is that "estás" is second person and used

with the pronoun "tú" which is known also as "familiar".

"Está" is third person and used with the pronoun "usted", which is

also known as "formal".

Question: What do you mean by "first person, second person and third person"?

Verbs in English and Spanish are conjugated.

(1st person) I - yo

(2nd person) you - tú (familiar)

(3rd person) he, she, you - él, ella, usted(formal)

we - nosotros

them - ellos, ellas, ustedes(plural/formal)

Question: Doesn't "está" mean "is" and do I use "está" only when I am speaking formally?

Answer: You use "está" formally when it is used in questions like

¿Cómo está usted? -How are you?

¿Dónde está usted?"- Where are you?

"está" is not formal, "usted" is formal.

ie.

ella está - she is (not formal)

él está - he is (not formal)

usted está - you are (formal)

so when you say,"él está", you are saying "he is".

when you say, "ella está" you are saying "she is"

these are not formal,

but when you say "usted está" you are saying, "you are" and that is formal

because the pronoun"usted" is formal.  "Tú" is familiar.

If you wanted to say "you are" the familiar way, you would say, "tú estás"

Notice that "está - is" changes to "está - are" when using "usted".

"usted está - you are", "él está - he is".

Conjugation for "estar - to be"

yo estoy - I am

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