Lo esperaba?

Question

No sabía si iban a venir, pero lo esperaba .

I didn't know if they were going to come, but I hoped so.

Can someone explain why there is a "lo" in this sentence?

Do spanish speakers say "I hoped it so"?

Also in spanish in this sentence for example, "No sabía" means "I didn't know"( in a book I studying), does one automatically assume that it's the 1st person sing. that is being talked about here until otherwise informed Because I know in the imperfect tense 1st, 2nd, & 3rd person sing. all have the same ending except for ir,ser,ver.

Answer 1

"I didn´t know if they were going to come, but I hoped it." I´m not sure I see your angle, don´t you ever say that in English?

As for no sabía, it will be clear from context who´s being spoken of. If it´s not, the speaker will put in a pronoun for clarification. For example when we say "my eyes hurt, the movie was dark" it´s clear from context, but the other person is still allowed to say "you mean the lighting´s bad in the cinema, or it was so disturbing you forgot to blink?"

what if the lighting was bad AND you forgot to blink ;-) - billygoat, Jul 24, 2011

Can you show where in my original sentence you would place a pronoun for clarification.? - Acelata, Jul 24, 2011

In your original sentence, the "lo" or "it" couldn´t be mistaken for anything else. - or if you meant "no sabía" you can say "yo no sabía", for example. - mistermouse, Jul 24, 2011

Does that make sense? - mistermouse, Jul 24, 2011

Answer 2

It just means "it", as you suspected.

I didn't know if they were going to come, but I hoped for it/expected it.

You can't always translate word-for-word if you want it to sound idiomatic. Your translation is smoother.

Your translation is much better than mine actually. I think "expected it" is something we would most likely say in English. When you put it like that it makes total sense for the "lo" to be there. Thanks! - Acelata, Jul 24, 2011