⇒ The neuter article in Spanish only takes one form: lo
⇒ It's often used with an adjective (lo bueno) or with a que clause (lo que más me gusta)
⇒ In each of the following sentences, lo can be taken to mean roughly la cosa or las cosas (thing or things).
⇒ Followed by an adjective, such an expression generates the syntactic equivalent of a noun phrase.
| Lo Sentence | Equivalent Sentence | English |
|---|---|---|
| No me gusta lo amargo. | No me gustan las cosas amargas. | I don’t like bitter things. |
| No entiendo lo que haces.I don’t understand the things that you do. |
| Lo importante es que venga.The important thing is that she comes. |
| Me da lo mismo ir a la playa que a la piscina.It’s all the same thing me if we go to the beach or to the pool. |
| Lo que dice es imposible.The things he says are impossible. |
⇒ In each of the following sentences, lo can mean la parte (the part or portion)
⇒ In this sense, it's used to express an entity, place, or abstract idea that can be considered a part of something that relates to a whole.
| Lo Sentence | Equivalent Sentence | English |
|---|---|---|
| Lo importante de la vida es el fin. | La parte importante de la vida es el fin. | The important part of life is the end. |
| Lo difícil del español es el vocabulario.The hard part about Spanish is the vocabulary. | No puedo separar lo suyo de lo mío.I can’t separate his part from my part. |
⇒ In each of the following sentences, lo can mean cómo or la manera en que (how).
⇒ In this sense, it is used to express the extreme degree or nature of a given entity, concept, or idea
| Lo Sentence | Equivalent Sentence | English |
|---|---|---|
| Quedó sorprendido por lo absurdo de su manera de ser. | Quedó sorprendido por el extremo absurdo de su manera de ser. | She was surprised by how absurd his way of life was. |
| Quiero que los estudiantes se den cuenta de lo bello que son aquellos pasajes.I want the students to realize how beautiful those passages are. |
| No tengo palabras para definir lo feliz que soy.I don’t have the words to define how happy I am. |
| No tengo palabras para definir lo importante que es nuestra unión.I don’t have words to define how important our coming together is. |