Fine tuning my pronouns
I encountered this sentence and translation in Fluencia
Para él lo más importante es la amistad. For him the most important thing is friendship.
My question is about the lo. In my mind, it should be la because the thing (friendship) that is being referred to is feminine.
Why is it lo and and not la?
3 Answers
Lo is a neuter definite article and together with an adjective, like importante, it can make an abstract noun. For example, lo más importante can be translated as "the most important thing," "that which is most important" or "what is most important."
Here you are referring to 'the most important thing' which is an abstract notion hence the neuter definite article instead of 'la' to directly refer to friendship, if that makes sense.
To add to what Kiwi said:
You can use the article "lo" + a singular masculine adjective to refer to a quality (even if you are describing plural things like "las vacaciones", o "los amigos").
lo = the thing, the things
La cosa buena del verano son las vacaciones.
Lo bueno del verano son las vacaciones. The good thing about summer...
La cosa más importante de la vida son los amigos.
Lo más importante de la vida son los amigos. The most important thing in life...
La cosa que pasó ayer fue tremendo.
Lo de ayer fue tremendo. The thing (that happened yesterday)...
La cosa más fácil sería coger el autobús.
Lo más fácil sería coger el autobús. The easiest thing would be to catch the bus.
Thank you for the responses. They were helpful.
