Spanish: "lo que" used in a sentence
I don't understand how/when to use these 2 words together in Spanish: "lo que". I see them used together in sentences very often but it doesn't always make grammatical sense to me?? Do they translate literally or is it a common phrase? My grammar is usually pretty good but this one always confuses me, and when I do translations from English to Spanish it seems I often leave this out when it is necessary to use it....
7 Answers
"Lo que" is used to refer to an idea, a clause, or a statement, and can mean "what", "which" or "that which".
We went over this before please look at the question that someone asked refering to Que Vs. Lo que. It was explained very well a coulpe of days ago!!!
Copied and pasted, Not my explanation!
'lo que' = 'non-inquisitive' WHAT.
In other words, it's a 'what' that does not ask anything.
I know... it's a little cryptic, isn't it?
Examples:
Lo que me gusta comer = WHAT I like to eat
Eso es exactamente lo que mi esposa quería = That's exactly WHAT my wife wanted
Lo que dijiste no es verdad. WHAT you said is not true
Hi and welcome to the forum.
Take a look at the first answer here:
Examples:
"Yo sé que tu quieres ir al banco" - I know that you want to go to the bank
"Yo sé lo que quieres hacer" - I know what you want to do.
"Me dices que estás pensando" - You tell me that you are thinking.
"Me dices lo que estás pensando" - You tell me what you are thinking.
What happens is that you are not paying attention to your own language either.
I wrote it for you, which is to say "I told you"
EDIT for Mariana:
Lo que pasa es que no estás prestando atención...
Lo escribí para ti, lo que es decir "te lo dije"
Also, lesson 4.12 covers this subject.
thank you so much to everyone for your explanations, i really appreciate it!
