estamos afuera
/estamos afweɾa/from spelling rules
In Spanish, "we're outside" is said as estamos afuera.
The phrase is used to inform someone that you and other people are currently located outdoors. For example, you might say Estamos afuera, en la calle to mean "we're outside, on the street".
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of estamos (we are) and afuera (outside/outdoors).
Which one should you use?
You can use either estamos afuera or estamos fuera to describe your location. While both are correct, you must not use somos to express this, as somos is used for permanent characteristics rather than current location.
How does it change in a sentence?
In this context, the word afuera can be replaced with the word fuera to convey the same meaning.
How do you pronounce it?
/estamos afweɾa/
Did you know?
- The word afuera is a distant relative of the English word 'forum', as both stem from a root meaning an 'outdoor place'.
- Using the verb somos instead of estamos in this phrase would sound to a native speaker as if being 'outside' is an inherent personality trait.
- The word afuera is a linguistic relative of the Romanian word afară and the Portuguese afora, showing how the concept of 'out' evolved similarly across different Romance languages.
Examples in context
- ¡Hola! Estamos afuera, en la calle.Hello! We're outside, on the street.
- Estamos afuera de la casa.We are outside the house.
- No entramos porque estamos afuera.We are not coming in because we are outside.
- ¡Ven rápido, estamos afuera!Come quickly, we're outside!
- Estamos afuera esperando el taxi.We're outside waiting for the taxi.
Example conversation
Alejandro calls Lucía to let her know he and his friends have arrived.
- AlejandroHola Lucía, ya estamos afuera.Hi Lucía, we're outside already.
- Lucía¿En dónde están exactamente?Where exactly are you?
- AlejandroEstamos afuera, cerca de la puerta principal.We're outside, near the main door.
- LucíaPerfecto, bajo ahora mismo.Perfect, I'm coming down right now.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries afuera, CC BY-SA 4.0.
