Sobre vs. Debajo de

[lyla]

Hello everyone, I need a bit of help...

Comparing these two sentences:

Yo estoy sobre la cama.

Yo estoy debajo de la cama.

Why would there be a de in the second line. You would think under the bed and on top of the bed would be similar.

Also, it seems to to me that sometimes Yo is used with estoy and sometimes not. Am I confused on this issue?

Thanks a lot!

[irmamar]

Compare:

Yo estoy sobre la cama.
Yo estoy bajo la cama.

Both sobre and bajo are prepositions.

Now look:

Yo estoy encima de la cama
Yo estoy debajo de la cama.

Both encima de and debajo de are 'locuciones preposicionales', they have the same function as a preposition.

I don't understand your second question.

[lyla]

I don't understand the answer. After I got your reply, I realized I am also going to have to do some study of grammar, as it has been a very long time. So, I looked up prepositions and prepositional phrases, and I'm still not sure I get your point. I find that I can't even repeat back to you what I 'think' you mean, so that's pretty bad. Maybe I should just plug on through and some of these things will become clearer in the longer term. Very frustrating though, being a highly sequential type of person. Aargh! As to your second point about the other question, well, we won't even go there...lol

Thanks!!!!

[Rusty]

The subject pronoun 'yo' is often omitted, as it is obvious from the conjugated verb which person applies. The pronouns must be used to clarify the subject only when there is ambiguity, like in the third person (the persons not embedded in parentheses in the table below).

Singular Persons	Conjugated Verb		Plural Persons	Conjugated Verb
(yo)	estoy		(nosotros)	estamos
(tú)	estás		(vosotros)	estáis
él	está		ellos	están
ella	está		ellas	están
usted	está		ustedes	están

[laepelba]

Lyla - I started my re-introduction to Spanish (after 20+ years and only a few college courses at that) with Rosetta Stone Level 1. YES, please keep plugging through it. I remember the "sobre" and "debajo" portions, and it was a bit confusing for me, too.

By the way, "locuciones preposicionales" are "prepositional phrases". In other words, instead of using ONE word as a preposition, more than one word (a phrase) is used with the same exact function of a single-word preposition.

Keep going with the Rosetta Stone (it's so good at helping you learn not to always think in terms of translating) ... and ask lots and lots of questions here! Learning Spanish is a blast!

[lyla]

That's great! Thanks a lot...this little push led me also to ser and I learned something there as well.

Laepelba...thanks for the encouragement. I'm nothing if not tenacious...wish I would have started something like this when I was much younger though. In any event, I'm committed and enjoying the process.

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by lyla

Laepelba...thanks for the encouragement. I'm nothing if not tenacious...wish I would have started something like this when I was much younger though. In any event, I'm committed and enjoying the process.

[irmamar]

As Laepelba said, we can use both a prepositional phrase or a preposition with the same meaning:

Sobre la cama = encima de la cama
Bajo la cama = debajo de la cama
Tras la puerta = detrás de la puerta
Ante ti = delante de ti

I hope it helps.

[bobjenkins]

Originally Posted by irmamar

As Laepelba said, we can use both a prepositional phrase or a preposition with the same meaning:

Sobre la cama = encima de la cama
Bajo la cama = debajo de la cama
Tras la puerta = detrás de la puerta
Ante ti = delante de ti

I hope it helps.

Buen consejo! Así es simple

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by bobjenkins

Buen consejo! Así es simple

Me alegro de que así se entienda mejor.