lo or los??

Question

In October 17th's "Word of the Day" is written: "Los contratiempos que él ha experimentado en su vida lo han terminado de derrotar."

This is a truly a grammar question - I'm not trying to correct or criticize - is "...lo han..." correct or should it be "...los han..." since I think it's referring to "los contratiempos" that have beaten him?

Similar question for "Los hombres lo que hablan..." vs. "Los hombres los que hablan..."

Welcome to the forum. Great question. - rac1, Oct 17, 2014

I only addressed the first question. - Jubilado, Oct 17, 2014

Answer 1

The pronoun lo refers to él (whoever he is who has experienced the setbacks). It is the direct object of the infinitive derrotar. If I were writing the sentence I would say: "Los contratiempos que él ha experimentado en su vida han terminado de derrotarlo."

I learned that it is more common practice to attach the direct object pronoun to the end of the infinitive of which it is the direct object. However it does not have to be written that way.

I'm cautiously disagreeing with a native speaker here, JulianChivi, so I am confident about this answer until I am shot down and ¡me derrota, también! No need for this statement any longer.

Jubis, you are absolutely correct, I have no idea what I was thinking about! - 005faa61, Oct 18, 2014

This makes me feel very good in my Spanish ability to date. - Jubilado, Oct 18, 2014

Answer 2

It looks to me like the "lo" in the first sentence refers to "él." In the second sentence, I would think "lo" is some unspecified "it," like "Spanish" perhaps. So, it would be "The men who speak/are speaking it...."

Answer 3

Jubilado is correct on the first one and you really need more context for the second one to know if the pronoun should be singular or plural.

Thanks, JulianChivi, for clearing this up. I hope the original poster has benefited from this as much as I have! - Jubilado, Oct 18, 2014

That´s a good eye you have ! - 005faa61, Oct 18, 2014