La llave está encima de la mesa.

The key is on the table.

Breakdown of La llave está encima de la mesa.

• estar: to be
• la mesa: the table
• encima de: on top of
• la llave: the key

Questions & Answers about La llave está encima de la mesa.

Why is it la llave and not el llave?

In Spanish, every noun has a grammatical gender, masculine or feminine. The word llave is grammatically feminine, so it takes the feminine article la:

• la llave = the key
• una llave = a key

There is no logical reason based on meaning; it’s just how the word has evolved. You have to memorize llave as feminine.

What form of the verb is está, and why does it have an accent?

Está is the third person singular (he/she/it/you-formal) of the verb estar in the present tense:

• yo estoy
• tú estás
• él / ella / usted está
• nosotros estamos
• vosotros estáis
• ellos / ellas / ustedes están

The accent on está shows where the stress falls: es‑TÁ. Without the accent (esta), it would be a different word: esta = this (feminine). So:

• La llave está encima de la mesa. = The key is on top of the table.
• Esta llave… = This key…

Why do we use estar and not ser here?

In Spanish:

• ser is used for essential characteristics, identity, origin, time, etc.
• estar is used for location, temporary states, conditions, feelings, etc.

Location is almost always expressed with estar, not ser. So:

• La llave está encima de la mesa. = The key is (located) on top of the table.

You would not say La llave es encima de la mesa; that’s incorrect.

What does encima de mean exactly, and how is it different from en or sobre?

• encima de = on top of, above (physically higher, usually touching or very close)
• en = in / on / at (very general location)
• sobre = on (top of) / over (often similar to encima de)

In this sentence:

• La llave está encima de la mesa.
  Emphasizes that the key is physically on top of the table.

You could also say:

• La llave está sobre la mesa. (very natural)
• La llave está en la mesa. (correct, but more general; often still understood as “on the table” from context)

In everyday speech, sobre and encima de often overlap when talking about physical position on top of a surface.

Why do we need de after encima? Why not encima la mesa?

In Spanish, many adverbs of place are followed by de when they introduce what something is “on/under/behind”:

• encima de la mesa = on top of the table
• debajo de la mesa = under the table
• delante de la casa = in front of the house
• detrás de la casa = behind the house

So the pattern is [adverb of place] + de + [noun].
Encima la mesa is incorrect; it must be encima de la mesa.

Why is it de la mesa and not del mesa?

Del is a contraction of de + el:

• de + el → del (masculine singular)
• de + la → de la (feminine singular, no contraction)

The noun mesa is feminine, so its definite article is la, not el. Therefore:

• de la mesa (correct)
• del mesa (incorrect, wrong gender)

Example of the contraction:

• encima del coche = on top of the car (coche is masculine → el coche → del coche)

Why do we say la mesa and not just mesa without an article?

In Spanish, you normally must use an article (or another determiner like esta, mi, etc.) with singular countable nouns. You can’t usually leave it out as you might in English.

• English: Key is on table. (sounds very odd, usually we say The key is on the table.)
• Spanish: La llave está encima de la mesa. (article required)

Without a determiner, mesa alone would sound wrong in this context. You could omit the article only in special situations like headlines, labels, or set phrases, but not in normal sentences like this one.

Where is the subject in this sentence? English needs “The key” as the subject; is it the same in Spanish?

Yes. In La llave está encima de la mesa, the subject is la llave.

Spanish often drops subject pronouns (yo, tú, él, etc.) because the verb ending shows who the subject is. But a noun subject (like la llave) is not usually dropped.

Structure:

• La llave (subject)
• está (verb: 3rd person singular of estar)
• encima de la mesa (prepositional phrase of place)

Could the word order be Encima de la mesa está la llave?

Yes, that is also correct:

• Encima de la mesa está la llave.

Spanish has flexible word order. Putting Encima de la mesa first emphasizes the place a bit more. Both versions mean the same thing, but:

• La llave está encima de la mesa. → neutral, subject first
• Encima de la mesa está la llave. → slightly more focus on the location

Both sound natural.

How would the sentence change if I wanted to say “a key” instead of “the key”?

You would use the indefinite article una:

• Una llave está encima de la mesa. = A key is on top of the table.

In practice, Spanish speakers might prefer a different structure, for example:

• Hay una llave encima de la mesa. = There is a key on top of the table.

Hay (“there is/are”) is very common when introducing something for the first time.

Can llave mean anything besides “key”?

Yes. Llave has several meanings depending on context:

• Most common: key (for a lock)
• In Spain: llave inglesa = adjustable spanner / wrench
• In many Latin American countries: llave can also mean faucet/tap (for water)

In your sentence, with encima de la mesa, it clearly means a physical key.

How is llave pronounced in Spain? Is ll different from y?

Standard Peninsular Spanish usually pronounces ll and y the same (this is called yeísmo):

• llave and ya both start with a sound like the English y in yes.

So llave is roughly YA-veh in most of Spain.
In some regions (very few now), ll can be pronounced differently (a palatal l sound), but the y-like sound is what you will normally hear and learn.

What if I just say La llave está en la mesa? Is that wrong?

It’s not wrong; it’s grammatical and understandable. En is a very general preposition meaning in/on/at, so context decides the exact meaning.

• La llave está en la mesa.
  Often understood as “The key is on the table,” especially if you’re talking about objects placed on a surface.

However, encima de la mesa or sobre la mesa makes it clearer that the key is on top of the table, not in a drawer built into the table or inside some part of it.