Lo es or La es?

Question

If someone says: La vida es muy buena.

Would a proper response be "sí lo es" or "sí la es"?

I chose lo, but now I wonder.

Good question!!! I think it would be comon to hear "lo," but "la" makes sense gramatically, doesn't it? - _Mateo_, Aug 25, 2011

No, "la" does not make sense grammatically speaking. - lazarus1907, Aug 25, 2011

Thank you. I learned from this. - MLucie, Aug 25, 2011

Answer 1

Simple rule: with "ser" and "estar" as single verbs you can only use "lo". Being a neuter concept without a specific noun to represent it is irrelevant here. You cannot use any other pronoun. Period.

Es bonito -> Lo es

Es bonita -> Lo es

Son bonitos -> Lo son

Son bonitas -> Lo son

That "lo" is not a direct object, by the way.

Sí, la [vida] es.

Actually, you can't suppress "vida", because that "la" is an article, and articles cannot be on their own. It should be:

¿Es dura la vida? Sí, la lo es.

Thanks :) So simple rule, but no one said about it before! - PrincessMariam, Aug 25, 2011

Actually, if I had recognized it, we have several previous discusssions on this. - 0074b507, Aug 25, 2011

Thanks, Lazarus. - webdunce, Aug 25, 2011

Thank you, Lazarus. You may have said it before, but I never saw it before! Now I know. - MLucie, Aug 25, 2011

Answer 2

Lo is used for neuter concepts that don't have a specific noun to represent them (p. ej. What was said previously...lo que se dijo anteriormente...). If you don't have a specific noun as a antecedent you cannot determine gender.

In this case we do have a specific antecedent: vida which is feminine. Go with la.

Sí, la [vida] es.

Sigh! Now that Lazarus explained this, I recall a similar thread where Heidita tried to explain this usage. And I may recall a previous thread where Lazarus explained this before. I wouldn't have the slightest idea what to search for to find them, however.

This isn't the one that I was thinking of, but Lazarus speaks briefly on the construction in this thread.

Well, buena is actually the antecedent, isn't it? - webdunce, Aug 25, 2011

Oops! I read it too quickly. Sorry. - 0074b507, Aug 25, 2011

It's okay, Q. :) - webdunce, Aug 25, 2011

Answer 3

Kicking this back up the list since I wrote an incorrect answer in it and the correct one may not have been read.