Pongo una manta encima del colchón de mi cama cuando hace frío.

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Breakdown of Pongo una manta encima del colchón de mi cama cuando hace frío.

• una: a
• mi: my
• hacer: to make

Questions & Answers about Pongo una manta encima del colchón de mi cama cuando hace frío.

Why is it "pongo" and not "pone" or "pono"? What does "pongo" tell me?

Pongo is the first-person singular (yo) present of poner. Spanish often drops the subject pronoun, so pongo already means "I put." The verb is irregular in the yo form: pongo, not “pono.” Useful forms:

• Present: yo pongo, tú pones, él/ella/usted pone, nosotros ponemos, vosotros ponéis, ellos/ustedes ponen
• Past participle: puesto
• Preterite: puse, pusiste, puso, etc.

Why "encima de" and not just "encima" or "en"?

Encima de is the standard way to say “on top of” + a noun. You must include de before a noun: encima del colchón, not “encima el colchón.”
En is vaguer (“on/in/at”) and doesn’t emphasize vertical layering. Encima by itself can stand alone (“Está encima”), but when followed by a noun it needs de.

Is "sobre" or "arriba de" okay here?

• Sobre works and is a bit more concise or formal: Pongo una manta sobre el colchón...
• Arriba de is common in parts of Latin America. In Spain, for “on top of” people usually prefer encima de or sobre. Arriba alone tends to mean “upstairs/above.”