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).

[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.

[laepelba]

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.

Now, I must admit, that I still have some difficulties with some of these prepositions/prepositional phrases that describe location...

If I stand in my living room, with my face pointed toward the television, and my back toward the couch, then I can say "el televisor está detrás de mi" y "la sofá está delante de mi". Right?

I had a conversation with some Mexican students (new to this country and new to speaking English) that was quite confusing. I said something about the "front" of my classroom, and the "back" of the classroom. I consider the "front" to be the side of the room where all the desks face and where the teaching typically takes place. I consider the "back" of the room to be opposite the front. The kids were confused because they wanted me to use the word "front" for what I was facing (which I called the back) and the "back" to be the part of the room behind me (which I call the front, because I stand and face the class). SO CONFUSING for them AND for me! ACK!!

[Perikles]

Is this because Spanish has frente for front (noun) and delante for in front (adverb)? Very confusing.

Edit:

Originally Posted by laepelba

If I stand in my living room, with my face pointed toward the television, and my back toward the couch, then I can say "el televisor está detrás de mi" y "la sofá está delante de mi". Right?

Hang on - the wrong way round, surely???

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by Perikles

Is this because Spanish has frente for front (noun) and delante for in front (adverb)? Very confusing.

Well, we finally had it worked out. It was more important, in THAT conversation, for the students to understand the English. So I can't quite remember what the Spanish equivalents were. All I know is that the idea of "in front of" and "behind" weren't so clear, which makes me think that "frente" and "detras" and "delante", etc. aren't as clear to me either.....

Added moments later: the confusion was in the idea that the "front" and "back" back of the classroom don't change based on which way one is facing. Yet, to say something is "in front of me" or "in back of me" DOES change based on which way my face is pointed..... Is there a similar usage oddity in Spanish?

[Perikles]

Have you seen my edited post?

[laepelba]

Did you see MY edited post?

I'm not sure if I got them right or wrong. That's how I read the dictionary description... :O

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by laepelba

If I stand in my living room, with my face pointed toward the television, and my back toward the couch, then I can say "el televisor está detrás de mi" y "la sofá está delante de mi". Right?!

Originally Posted by laepelba

I'm not sure if I got them right or wrong. That's how I read the dictionary description... :O

Wrong way round

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by Perikles

Wrong way round

Okay - that makes sense. And "delante de" is the same direction as "en frente de", right?

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Okay - that makes sense. And "delante de" is the same direction as "en frente de", right?

I think so. Need confirmation.

[irmamar]

Confirmado.

El televisor está delante de mí, está enfrente.
El sofá está detrás de mí, está a mi espalda.

Delante de mi casa/enfrente de mi casa hay un bonito jardín.
Detrás de mi casa/en la parte posterior hay un callejón.
La puerta principal da al jardín que está enfrente/delante.
La ventana del baño da al callejón, que está detrás/en la parte posterior.

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by irmamar

Confirmado.

El televisor está delante de mí, está enfrente.
El sofá está detrás de mí, está a mi espalda.

Delante de mi casa/enfrente de mi casa hay un bonito jardín.
Detrás de mi casa/en la parte posterior hay un callejón.
La puerta principal da al jardín que está enfrente/delante.
La ventana del baño da al callejón, que está detrás/en la parte posterior.

Okay - that is VERY helpful (thank you!). So how come my Spanish-speaking students were so confused about "front of the room"/"back of the room" when I was facing them...???