Yo creo que lo que.......

Question

I am trying to work on common expressions, rather than focusing solely on individual words. Here is one that I ran across, so I am wondering if this is this a common expresson that I should memorize.

For example,

"yo creo que lo que....... más se come son los tacos."

What is throwing me off is the "lo que" phrase, which seems redundant. How is this phrase used, instead of the simple "Yo creo que...."

Thanks.

Answer 1

Thanks.

This was really helpful.

Answer 2

Yo creo que más se come son los tacos ''''?

If you weren't wanting the superlative here, you could say, "(Yo) Creo que más se comen los tacos." (or, "Creo que se comen más los tacos" Which is better')

Going back to the original question, how is the comparative distinguished from the superlative in that sentence? How do I know if the statement is comparative or superlative?

"Yo creo que lo que más se come son los tacos."

First of all, I am correct that it could be either, right?

Comparative:
- Creo que ahí se come el ceviche.
- "Yo creo que lo que más se come son los tacos." (not necessarily what is eaten most there, but eaten more than ceviche)

Superlative:
- ¿Cuál es el plato el más común ahí?
- "Yo creo que lo que más se come son los tacos." (Or would you say something like "... lo que más se come entre todo son los tacos" to make it exclusively superlative, if that were not done by the context')

Answer 3

Without "lo que" you would have to specify what exactly are you talking about:

I think that the food that it is most consumed...
I think that the dish that it is most consumed...
I think that the vegetables that it is most consumed...
I think that the meat that it is most consumed...

or, in general:

I think that the thing that it is most consumed...

"Lo que" is precisely "the thing", an all-purpose phrase that you use when you don't want or can't be specific about something. Of course, in English, instead of "the thing that is is most consumed..." you would have said "what it is more consumed..." (or some other alternatives), but in Spanish it doesn't work like that, and it would give a weird sentence:

Creo que que más se come ''''''?

Bear in mind that in Spanish, you cannot omit "que" in "Creo que", and the English "what" is also "que", so you end up with "que que".

If you remove "lo que", you get:

Yo creo que más se come son los tacos ''''?

which translates as "I think that more it is eaten are the tacos ('''''')".