"lo" before an adjective
How does this change the meaning of the adjective?
Ejemplos:
Lo mejor de mi vida eres tú.
Es lo mismo.
Me gusta de ti, lo mucho que me gustas.
I can translate all of the above, but for future reference, what exactly does the "lo" do?
7 Answers
Lo here is a neuter article, which, when coupled with an adjective, translates as "the ___ thing".
-Lo bueno = the good thing
lo mejor = the best thing
lo mismo = the same thing
- Lo mejor que mi vida eres tú. (?) This can be improved by changing que to "en".
el mejor = the best one
lo mejor = the best thing
es el mismo = it is the same one
es lo mismo = it is the same thing
Lo before an adjective make the adjective into a noun. "El mejor" is "the best." "Lo mejor" is "the best thing." Lo basically adds "thing" to it.."Lo bueno"=the good thing. Etc. That's how it's translated to english.
To put it simply lo+adjective=noun
If I recall correctly, those are the only neuter nouns in Spanish.
The definite article+infinitive are masculine nouns. (el leer)
(of course, there are neuter pronouns).
You could say to someone while telling a story, "es lo cómico...", "that's the funny thing" (about what just happened)
To me it means "the" - but why it should not be "el" or "la" I don't know.
Unless because we don't know if it is masculine or feminine we have to use lo. (it)
Since I learned the language not by studying it but by immersion, I can´t say if there is a rule about these types of constructions or not, but they give me the sense of just one word, which is usually the subject or object in a sentence.
ie: "Lo mejor de mi vida eres tú." "Mejor" by itself is an adjective, but when coupled with "Lo," the two together become a noun.
"Mejor" can´t be considered an adjective in this case because it can´t be conjugated for gender. The phrase is neuter gender.
