Está or es when playing cucú?

Question

When playing cucù with a baby would it ever be correct to ask "¿Dónde es Pedro?" Or should it always be "¿Dónde está Pedro?" (Baby's hiding behind hands and then pops out saying "¡Cucú!")

The (non-native) teacher at my kid's toddler Spanish class uses "es" but it feels wrong to me. I don't want to question her and make myself look a fool but equally I don't want my child to learn the wrong thing.

If anyone can explain why it would be correct to use SER in this example I'd really appreciate it. Thank you

Answer 1

To my knowledge, estar is used when asking for the location of a physical object or person, but ser is used to ask where something is going to happen.

So for instance:

¿Dónde está la clase?- where is the class(room) located. En el segundo piso.

¿Dónde es la clase?- where is the class being held. En la universidad.

You could say "¿De dónde es él?", but "¿Donde es él?" sounds very odd to me as well, and I am hard-pressed to think of a reason to do so.

I am a non-native speaker, so there may be some subtlety I am missing with putting it that way, please wait for native comments.

https://www.italki.com/question/339061?hl=en-us

You need to use ESTAR when asking where something/someone is:

¿Dónde ESTÁ el libro? Está encima de la mesa. ¿Dónde ESTÁ Paula? Está en el gimnasio. ¿Dónde ESTÁ Tokio? Está en Japón.

When asking where something is taking place, you need to use SER:

¿Dónde ES la reunión? Es en este edificio ¿Dónde ES la boda? Es en Barcelona. ¿Dónde ES la fiesta? Es en mi casa.

http://studyspanish.com/grammar/lessons/serest3

Estar is used to express geographic or physical locations.

¿Dónde estás? Where are you? Estoy en el laboratorio. I’m in the laboratory.

¿Dónde está Chile? Where’s Chile? Chile está en América del Sur. Chile is in South America.

Note: The one exception to this rule is that ser is used to tell where an event is taking place. (La fiesta es en mi casa.)

Added video: Cucú dónde estás:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRab8CXr5hg

Yes, this is my understanding. Thanks for the reply. Just want someone who's sure to tell me categorically that it's wrong so I can feel confident in questioning it really. Thanks again - AliRMel, Jan 29, 2017

Like I said, check back for any native comment, as occasionally there is some subtle shade of meaning. :) - bosquederoble, Jan 29, 2017

However here is a video entitled Cucú dónde estás: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRab8CXr5hg - bosquederoble, Jan 29, 2017

I will link it in my post. - bosquederoble, Jan 29, 2017

Since Julian voted for this I will assume I am right. :) - bosquederoble, Jan 29, 2017

I agree - 000a35ff, Jan 30, 2017

Thanks, Astotxua. :) - bosquederoble, Jan 30, 2017

You now have a native from Spain, and one from Mexico in agreement, and a video, so I think you can offer that info to the person. :) - bosquederoble, Jan 30, 2017

Thanks everyone - AliRMel, Jan 31, 2017