why "por lo que"
While listening to a video on LoMasTV, I came across the following sentence describing Italian coffee: Es una molienda muy fina, y se hace pasar a través del agua a altas temperaturas y altas presiones, por lo que la extracción es distinta. My question concerns the last phrase, "...por lo que la extracción es distinta," which is translated "... which is why the extraction is different." I If I were writing this phrase in Spanish, I would think that "por qué la extracción..." I don't understand what the "lo" represents in "por lo que" and, further, I don't understand why "que" doesn't have an accent mark over the "e". (I also don't know what the accent mark is called in Spanish.)
Any enlightenment will be appreciated.
Gracias por su ayuda,
Jim
2 Answers
por lo que la extracción es distinta
Definitely wait for some comments from a more learned spanish person than I, but if you had "por qué" in place of "por lo que" you would be asking a question, which this is not.
por lo que translates as "for the which", that is, for which reason, or which is why. You need that article, lo, to keep it from being por qué, which makes no sense in this context.
Sometimes, as the subject of a sentence, you will run into "El por qué", for instance "El por qué es que el banco está cerrado", "The reason is that the bank is closed.
por lo que la extracción es distinta.
"For that which is distinct."
However, the most common way to say this (and probably most grammatically correct) is "por lo cual."
