[Rusty]

Originally Posted by BeckyDi

Question #1
"Debajo de la mesa" and "Debajo la mesa" both mean underneath the table - so why the "de la" and "la"? Are there appropriate times to use one or the other? And why when you say "on the table", it's always just "sobre la mesa" with no "de la"?
Some Spanish prepositions consist of two words. 'Después de' (after) is one example of this. Without the 'de' you have the adverb 'afterwards'.
'Debajo', without the 'de' is the adverb 'under'. 'Debajo de la mesa' is the correct translation of 'under/underneath the table'. 'Bajo la mesa' means the same thing, if you don't want to use a two-word preposition.

'Sobre' is a preposition, so you don't need 'de' behind it.

There's no reason to think that the article 'la' is a piece of the puzzle. The preposition 'de' is changed to 'del' if the object of the preposition is singular masculine.

Question #2
When you say "Yo quiero a mi esposo", it means "I love my husband", right? But when you leave out the "a", so "Yo quiero mi esposo", does it mean "I want my husband"?
When the direct object is a person, a personal 'a' must appear prior to it.
Quiero a mi esposo. = I love my husband.
When you leave out the personal 'a', you are in essence saying "I want my husband." I would think you didn't want to say that.

Question #3
I've seen both "Encantado de conocerte" and "Encantado de conocerlo". Translated, these are both "Delighted to meet you", but why does one end in "te" and the other ends in "lo"? I always thought you attached "lo" when talking about something you were referring to as "it".
In each instance, the suffix is a direct object pronoun. The first - te - is the second-person direct object pronoun. It means 'you', but is used informally. The second - lo - is the third-person direct object pronoun. It can mean 'him', 'it' or 'you'. This time that 'you' is being used formally.
The third-person pronouns always stand the chance of being ambiguous, so you'll often want to clarify who they represent until your audience knows who you're talking about.
If the person is female, 'la' would have been used in the third person. If there is more than one person, the second- or third-person plural forms would be used.

Question #4
I've seen both "¿Cómo se llama usted?" and "¿Cómo te llamas?" (both said to a single person) and when translated, both mean "What do you call yourself/What's your name?". Are these used interchangeably or is there a proper place/time to use one or the other?
The difference is whom you are addressing. If the person is a child, you would use the second person - te llamas. If not, you would use the third person - se llama. Remember, the third person singular form of the verb is also used for the subject pronouns 'he', 'she' and 'it'. Adding 'usted' to your question clarifies who you mean.

Question #5
What is the difference between "es" ("it is") and "está" ("it is")?
Check out the difference between 'ser' and 'estar' here.

Question #6
When do you use "tú" and "usted"? I always thought "tú" was used when you were speaking to someone younger than you and "usted" was used when you were speaking to someone with respect, as in someone older than you.
A lot of your questions above could have been answered by studying the difference between using second- and third-person address. When you're referring to someone else, you're using third person, as well, so you often must clarify which of the four possible subjects you meant.

Welcome to the forums!

I see that AngelicaDeAlquezar already beat me in answering your thread, but another point of view won't hurt. She also pointed out that there's an "Accents" drop-down menu that you can use to insert all the special characters you'll need while typing Spanish.

Please ask only one question per thread in the future and provide a thread title that reflects the content of the thread so it can be searched by others that may have the same question.