sobre/encima de
Will someone please discuss the difference between "sobre" and "encima de," concerning the translation of "on?"
Las manos del hombre están encima de la mesa.
Los codos del joven están sobre la mesa.
Other than different body parts, these seem to mean the same thing. Am I missing something?
3 Answers
I'm no expert but I'll give it a go 
Sobre can mean have the figurative meaning of 'about' or 'on top of' as in 'above' or 'in addition' but when it comes to 'on' as in location of a thing I think that sobre often carries the nuance of close contact or something resting on something else.
Encima de : 'on top of' or 'above' can be used just like sobre above (figuratively incl.) but often has the extra nuance of things being in a pile or just something being above another thing without touching, eg something hanging 'above' something else.
Encima can be used by itself and being an adverb it gives more info about the verb:
Había mucha lluvia, y encima, hielo. (There was a lot of rain and on top of that, ice).
I would say that encima de requires physical contact but in cristalino's duck example that isn't necessarily true. I can say sobre is almost always used as the figurative compared to encima de as in "nosotros hablamos sobre la pelicula" (we talked about the movie) and "prestar juramento sobre la Biblia" (to swear on the Bible).
Our dictionary reveals the following for the sobre entry:
- on (top of) (encima de) • fui apilando las tejas una sobre otra -> I piled the tiles up one on top of the other
• el libro está sobre la mesa -> the book is on (top of) the table
• varios policías saltaron sobre él -> several policemen fell upon him
• una cruz roja sobre fondo blanco -> a red cross on o against a white background
- over, above (por encima de) • el pato vuela sobre el lago -> the duck is flying over the lake
• a 3.000 metros sobre el nivel del mar -> 3,000 meters above sea level
So "encima de" & "por encima de" appear in each of the above renderings... anyone else for clarification?
