I see this word all the time when reading and I am yet to get my head around the meaning, would someone be able to summarise this word up with as little explanation as possible?
Muchas gracias por tus ayudo
Please give the context in which this word is not clear to you!
All of it whenever I see the word “lo” next to another word I can never work out the meaning
Do you mean something like: “Es un mal sueño! OlvĂdalo!” ?
Here “lo” in “olvĂdalo” refers to “mal sueño”, so: It is a bad dream! Forget it!
Or do you have other cases of “lo” which you don’t understand?
Okay. Yes, I can summarize it with little explanation, but it is NOT going to stick. This is something where you are going to have to read the explanation in your grammar book or internet reference over and over again with lots of examples and then just eventually get it to stick.
“Lo” and “La” can mean A LOT of different things.
First, they are male and female direct object for he, she, Usted, and “it”
OlvĂdalo! - Forget it!
si me lo haces, te lo hare - If you do it for me, I’ll do it for you.
Digamelo - Tell it to me.
Damelo - give it to me
Lo hago por placer - I do it for pleasure
Tienes un boligrafo? Do you have a pen? Si, pero estoy usandolo ahoramismo yes, but I’m using it right now.
This is simple enough here, but it can get confusing when you don’t know whether to use lo/la as the direct object, or le as the INDIRECT object.
Second, lo can be used to mean “the” like el and la when you are speaking about something very generalized or you are going to use a noun as an abstract idea eg such when Antonio Banderas sings that mariachi song in Desperado with the line “Aguardiente es lo mejor…” Brandy is the “the best.”
Third, it can be part of a relative pronoun such as “lo que, la que, etc.” Good luck reviewing and letting that stick for now.
this is going to be a tricky one, took me long enough to more or less crack “el” and “la” and the plural versions too! thanks for the reply! I shall do some investigating with this one.
I’m not trying to be questioning your business here, just trying to understand - How do you get to 8700 “known” Spanish words and not know about the uses of “lo”?? I just don’t see how that is possible. Maybe I am going about lingqing a lot differently than many others on this website, but I saw “lo” so many times right at the beginning that I HAD to get a basic idea of it or translation would be very difficult.
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I never really studied it or questioned it, but where I see it so often I now want to know but it means I pretty much never study grammar unless its something specific in which I want to learn, for example the other day I was researching the difference between “estaba” and “fue”
Okay, that means we just go about things a different way. I can’t motivate myself enough to plod through a text without understanding it. In other words, as I lingq a word I am translating in context as I go through what Steve calls “interesting content.” That is why I could not go very far without getting a handle on “lo”. However, your method also seems to hold a portion of what Steve does in that you are accumulating words much faster. I have been unable to do that and stay motivated, which is why I only learn 10-20 words a day as I translate a story. Perhaps I am going too slow.
i agree with everything above i’ll just add because you will come across it in in spain it is common to see le instead of lo for male subjects it is called leismo
le voy
lo voy
i see him
and also in certain countries in latin america they use lo and la instead of le for indirect pronouns it is not considered gramatically correct
lo escribo la carta i write to him a letter
Everyone has their own way of doing things, and I’m usually adding about 120-150 known words a day from studying for 1.5 hours per day but I have noticed that I’m nearering 10.000 that is really starting to slow down.
He’s going about it the “Steve way” for the most part, but should be working on some “how to learn Spanish” aspect in conjunction with, or prior to using LingQ. Be it a course, Assimil, Teach Yourself, etc. The direct and indirect objects like “lo” can be tough to use properly, but el and la shouldn’t take anytime to crack.
I think I’m gonna start once I have reached 10.000 words to start reading my grammar book for 15 minutes a day and will start watching some kind of series or telenovelas for listening comprehension, I tried listening while reading on here and it would honestly put me to sleep.
Right. Agreed. Good plan.
Very true. Making it all the more frustrating.
Personally, I use the leismo, as well as vosotros, and the zeta.
Well, this isn’t related to “lo” but since LILingquist’s last post mentioned using vosotros form I was curious about something: Do you use Spanish for use in America or Spain? If America, do they have any problems with you slipping in a “vosotros” or “os”? I am especially interested in this since I am just starting out, and the lessons I am using use vosotros form, but I can switch to a form of the lessons that doesn’t use it. For the time being I am reading/listening to content that uses it.
Unless you are living in a Spanish speaking country, or otherwise around multiple native speakers you are familiar with, you are probably not going to use it all that often. If you do, and you are not in Spain, the listener will still be fine with it, even if they themselves never use vosotros forms.
Latin Americans will just hear that you speaking the Spain form of Spanish, something they would have already realized anyway because they would most likely have noticed your accent in pronouncing the letter Z, the letter C before vowels, the use of the leismo, and certain words (like vale, coche, zumo, coger, etc.)
With this mind, I don’t think it’s crucial for a beginner to decide. It is probably a good idea to be familiar with the constructions regardless because you will notice them when watching Spanish movies, hearing Spanish actors (even in Mexican telenovelas), and elsewhere. Eventually you may want to “pick a side” for what YOU personally will use when speaking—either based on where/with whom you will be living/working/visiting, or if just have a personal preference. For me personally, when I started, I had an interest in Spain, it is the only country I have traveled to, my high school teacher spoke that way, I loved the history, and there were no illegal immigrants on Long Island (New York). Nowadays, I pretty much only talk to the latter and it’s for work, so I’m typically just using the formal usted(es) anyway.
The only other thing I would add is that if you do choose to go one way, adopt all the features. For example, don’t use the vosotros and then not use the zeta, leismo, etc.
¡Muchas gracias!
De nada, Senor. Btw, that profile pic and username are awesome.