Lo before a noun
Hello, In all of my Spanish reading I have frequently come across the pronoun lo being put before various things such as nouns and it tends to confuse me. Things like 'lo anterior' as in: "Lo anterior es muy importante para que entendamos algo." I can understand this sentence but I don't understand why Lo is used seemingly in place of where an article might go. Any help would be greatly appreciated and I am probably missing something obvious.

Thanks.

Question

Lo before a noun
Hello, In all of my Spanish reading I have frequently come across the pronoun lo being put before various things such as nouns and it tends to confuse me. Things like 'lo anterior' as in: "Lo anterior es muy importante para que entendamos algo." I can understand this sentence but I don't understand why Lo is used seemingly in place of where an article might go. Any help would be greatly appreciated and I am probably missing something obvious.

Thanks.

Answer

Hello, Wesley. You have to make a difference between "lo" when it means "it" and "lo" when it means "that".

I know it.
Lo sé.

Lo veo.
I see it.

But... "Lo que quiero saber"
What I want to know.
Literally "that that I want to know".

Take into account that "lo", aside from being "it" it may also be a shortened form of "aquello".

Lo raro del asunto es que él me llamó antes.
What is weird is that he called me before.
Literally "that/the weird (thing) is that he called me before."

Lo preocupante de la situación.
The worrying part of the situation.
Literally "that, which is worrying about the situation".

I hope this helps you.

Answer

@paco I was able to read most of it and now understand a bit better. Thank you! :D

Answer

I could try to answer your question, but you can see the answer with a lot of examples, in internet, and you'll understand if your Spanish is good enough:
http://www.practicaespanol.com/5-claves-sobre-el-articulo-neutro-lo-en-espanol/

Good luck!

Answers · 5

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