understanding the logic of AND and WHERE in t-sql - tsql

Question

I am working on Transact-SQL, Microsoft Azure.
I am trying to understand why in some join queries WHERE and AND both can be used and give the same result (or at least it seemed like the same result in my data base) and in other queries where doesn't work and and does.
Here, I am joining 2 tables:
select c.customerID, ca.addressID, ca.addressType
from salesLT.customer as c
join salesLT.customerADdress as ca
on c.customerID = ca.customerID
WHERE ca.addressType = 'Main Office'; --WHERE or AND works the same
This gives me what I was looking for = only the rows from customerAddress table where the type is 'Main Office'. Changing the word WHERE to AND gives the exact same result.
Now, the query is based on the previous, but I am trying to join 3 tables. Here the WHERE doesn't work and I have to put an AND:
select c.customerId, c.companyName, ca.addressID, ca.addressType, a.addressLine1, a. city
from salesLT.customer as c
join salesLT.customerAddress as ca
on c.customerID = ca.customerID
WHERE ca.addressType = 'Main Office' -- error: incorrect syntax near 'join'
join salesLT.address as a
on ca.addressId = a.addressID;
If I change the WHERE to AND it works. Why? What is the difference between the join of 2 tables and 3?
Thanks

Answer 1

If I change the WHERE to AND it works. Why?
Because using and is adding the condition to the on clause, but using where is a new clause.
Here is the full explanation: The basic syntax of a select statement when using multiple joins is:
SELECT <columns>
FROM <table 1>
JOIN <table 2> ON <condition>
JOIN <table 3> ON <condition>
WHERE <condition>
This means your second query should look like this:
select c.customerId, c.companyName, ca.addressID, ca.addressType, a.addressLine1, a.city
from salesLT.customer as c
join salesLT.customerAddress as ca on c.customerID = ca.customerID
join salesLT.address as a on ca.addressId = a.addressID
WHERE ca.addressType = 'Main Office';
If you will go to the link, you will see that a select statement syntax can get much more complicated - but for now, that basic syntax should be enough to get you started.

Answer 2

The second JOIN should be before the WHERE clause
select c.customerId, c.companyName, ca.addressID, ca.addressType, a.addressLine1, a. city
from salesLT.customer as c
join salesLT.customerAddress as ca
on c.customerID = ca.customerID
join salesLT.address as a
on ca.addressId = a.addressID
WHERE ca.addressType = 'Main Office'
;