Lo que and qué

Question

I just ran into "lo que" and "qué" the other day, and I'm trying to think of ways to use it.

Estoy algo desilusionado. Nunca podré contarme contigo otra vez, pero no habría aprendido nada si no hubieras hecho lo que hiciste.

I'm somewhat disappointed. I will never be able to count on you again, but I would not have learned anything if you hadn't done what you did.

Is that whole paragraph correct so far?

No me aseguro de lo que dices = I'm not sure of what you are saying (right?)

No me aseguro de lo que digas = I'm not sure of what you might say

No me aseguro de qué digas = I'm not sure of what you might say

I'm not trying to say "I'm not sure what you might say", I'm trying to state that "I know you already said it and yet I don't understand." I should choose the first one right? Am I doing this correctly? Someone please stop me...

There's only one way I know how to say this:

No me asegura lo que dices = What you say does not assure me.

Answer 1

I didn't read the answer to: lo que vs qué...No estoy seguro de [lo que o qué] digas. Lo que preferrable, but is qué incorrect there?

Interrogative (direct and indirect) sentences and clauses are normally used to quote or request confirmation of a declaration, so they are generally (but not always necessarily) in indicative. You can say "No estoy seguro de qué dice", but not "diga", which would be practically equivalent to "¿Qué dice? No estoy seguro".

Thank you. - 0074b507, Jun 8, 2011

Thanks again, Lazarus. I'm going to review this entire thread until I get it right :) - GuitarWarrior, Jun 8, 2011

Answer 2

No me aseguro de lo que dices = I'm not sure of what you are saying (right?)

Wrong translation (and the sentence doesn't make sense). "No me aseguro" = "I do not make sure". It should have been "No estoy seguro..."

No me aseguro de lo que digas = I'm not sure of what you might say

No me aseguro de qué digas = I'm not sure of what you might say

Same thing about "No estoy seguro", but the predicate of these two sentences are not acceptable either. "No estoy seguro de lo que digas" is what you really want to say.

No me asegura lo que dices = What you say does not assure me.

Grammatically speaking, this one is correct, but we don't use "asegurar" like that to translate "assure me" (or is it "reassure me"?). I would say:

Lo que dices no me da seguridad / inspira confianza.

Thank you so much Lazarus! I think I understand now :-) - GuitarWarrior, Jun 8, 2011

I didn't read the answer to: lo que vs qué...No estoy seguro de [lo que o qué] digas. Lo que preferrable, but is qué incorrect there? - 0074b507, Jun 8, 2011

Answer 3

Some one answered this earlier.

It was explained that "lo que" is / can be used when in English we would say "that which".

This may be of help.

Answer 4

I didn't read the answer to: lo que vs qué...No estoy seguro de [lo que o qué] digas. Lo que preferrable, but is qué incorrect there?

I would have to say it´s incorrect because in this sentence "lo que ....." is a noun phrase. Any time there is a subject, object, indirect object with "que," "lo" is used.

"Que" alone is not a noun but only a connector.

Thank you, Sir. - 0074b507, Jun 8, 2011

Answer 5

Thanks everyone!