Talking about measurements and distances in Spanish

To talk about measurements in Spanish, i.e. how long/wide something is, we frequently use the following construction:

For example:

Notice how in Spanish we use the preposition "de", whereas in English there is no preposition.

To ask how big something is, we ask:

And more specifically:

Note that sometimes we use the verb tener instead of medir, for example, we could also say:

To talk about thickness we use the words grueso or grosor, for example:

When we talk about measurements relating to people, we only talk about height, so you can omit "de alto" at the end as it is understood we are talking about height. 

To ask how tall someone is:

To talk and ask about distance, i.e. how near or far something is, we introduce the question with "¿Qué tan cerca/Qué tan lejos...?:

You can also use Cuán cerca/Cuán lejos for How near/How far, although this is more formal. For example:

Notice how we use the verb "estar" because we are talking about location. 

Possible answers to these questions are:

Notice how we use the preposition "a" after estar. We can answer by saying how far in terms of distance (metres, kilometres away) something is or we could answer saying how far in terms of time (minutes, hours away). In both cases, estar + a is always used.