Lesson 57: The many uses of 'Lo'

'Lo' can be almost a complete phrase in itself if it is used in the right place. In fact it can be more than one phrase. In this lesson we;ll look at what 'lo' can mean besides 'it'

But before we dive into that here is something you might remember easily... because it is strange!

Where 'er' and 'ir' verbs differ

We've said that there are three types of verbs in Spanish:

• Verbs ending 'ar' - 'Hablar ("to speak")
• Verbs ending 'er' - 'Comer ("to eat")
• Verbs ending 'ir' - 'Vivir ("to live")

We also said, and we have seen, that 'er' and 'ir' verbs always act the same. In other words they change the same way when used in past or future tences - even with present tense he/she/it.

But there is one place in the entire Spanish language where they act differently:

Spanish	English
Comemos	We are eating
Vivimos	We are living

That's it - the we form in the present tense is the only place you will find 'er' an 'ir' acting differently to each other and, in this case, having a different ending.

Right - you weren't expecting that and it might have surprised you just enough for your memory to get it first time round! We'll use these again in a minute.

Lo

So on to 'Lo' which we have seen used to say "it" but this tiny word can also mean a lot more!

Spanish	English
Lo bueno ...	The good thing ...
Lo malo ...	The bad thing ...
Lo interesante ...	The interesting thing ...
Lo interesante es que viven aquí	The interesting thing is that they live here
Lo interesante es que viven juntos	The interesting thing is that they live together

If you are looking for a way to remember 'malo' - "bad" - a good hook is "malnutrition" becuase it means "bad nutrition".

If you are looking for a way to remember 'junto' - "together" - you might find "junction" - where two roads come together, a useful hook.

Another new word we're going to use is 'facíl' - "easy" where you could use "facilitate" as a hook".

Spanish	English
Lo facíl ...	The easy thing ...
Lo facíl es que vienen juntos	The easy thing is that they come together
Lo complicado es que vienen juntos	The complicated thing is that they come together

'Así' - "Like this" / "Like that"

Right slight, but very useful, diversion. We've seen a couple of ways to tell people how we do things:

Spanish	English
De esta forma	In this way / thus
De esta manera	In this manner

But in every day Spanish when we just want to say "Like this" / "Like that" we use así

Spanish	English
No hablamos así	We don't speak like that
No comemos así	We don't eat like that
No vivimos así	We don't live like that

'Lo de' - "The thing about"

Spanish	English
Lo de la fiesta ...	The thing about the party ...
Hablamos sobre lo de la fiesta	We are speaking about the thing about the party
Hablamos de lo de la fiesta	We are speaking of the thing about the party
Lo de Juan	The thing about Juan

OK - let's try a mega sentence: "I don't want to talk about that thing about Juan like this".

• "I don't want" - 'No quiero'
• "to talk" - 'hablar'
• "about" - 'sobre'
• "the thing about Juan" - 'lo de juan'
• "Kile this" - 'así'

Spanish	English
No quiero hablar sobre lo de Juan así	I don't want to speak about the thing about Juan like this

Now if you listen to yourself and others talking over the next few days it might strike you how widely "that thing" is used in every day conversation!

Spanish	English
Quiero organizar lo de mañana	I want to organize that thing tomorrow
... pero no quiero organizarlo así	... but I don't want to organize it like this

No in English, with no context, the first phrase is a bit ambiguos - it could mean:

1. I want to do the organizing tomorrow (for a thing that will take place at some time in the future)
2. I want to organize the thing that is going to happen tomorrow

In Spanish its only the second option which is valid and because we have the 'de involved in the Spanish we can remember it as - "I want to organize that thing of tomorrow".

Lesson 58: Past Tense: The dot in the past with 'ar' verbs