The speakers are having a phone conversation.There, where you live, is it cold? : ___, donde tú vives ¿hace mucho frío?
Why is alli not possible in this question? Considering that they are on the phone, they might feel quite far apart from each other.
Hola Anne
One of the explanation for "ahí" in the lesson is saying that we use "ahí" to refer to something that is "near the listener" not the speaker. Here the distance is not important, the speaker and the listener could be 2 metres apart or 3000 kilometres apart. The important thing is that what the speaker is referring to is something that is/is placed where the listener is at the moment of speaking.
As this is a phone conversation and the speaker is referring to the weather "where the listener is" (donde tú vives) we need "ahí", not "allí". Allí would be used if the speaker were talking about somewhere far away from both.
I hope this clarified it.
Un saludo
Inma
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