De que vs Lo que vs Que (That)

Question

Could someone just briefly explain to me the usage of Lo que , De que and Que respectively.I'm having trouble especially with De que and Que because I am not really sure as to whether I should use which one.

Thank you in advance :D

Answer 1

Review que in the dictionary, it has a number of meanings, including that to introduce a new clause, who, which, and even than, among others. Note that qué and que are different.

Here is a sentence from our dictionary that we will work with:

Ese es el teléfono que yo quiero.That's the phone that I want.

Notice that in English- that appears twice, once translated as ese, and once as que. The one that can be translated as que can be replaced in English with which, but the first one cannot.

Lo que- literally "it that", normally in English we think of it as "that which", although sometimes it can be simply be "what" in English, it can normally.

Let's rewrite the above sentence:

Lo que quiero es ese teléfono. What I want is that telephone. That which I want is that telephone.

De que- of that. Some expressions in Spanish do better if you connect them with de que instead of que. Pretty much I think you just have to get a feel for it by doing it, and learning which do. It is not helped by the fact that Spanish speakers do not always follow the rules in this matter. For instance, technically I think it should be "estar seguro de que" but you will find natives that leave out the de.

Estoy seguro de que ese es el teléfono que quiero. I am sure (of) that that is the telephone that I want. I am sure that that is the telephone that I want. Note that the two thats in a row are not pronounced the same in that sentence- say it and see what I mean.

Reference on leaving out the de (there are other pearls in this thread and it is worth visiting for what I did not bring over):

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/estar-seguro-que-de-que.613150/

Lazarus, ¿hay alguna regla para lo que dices? Te pregunto porque por estos rumbos se dice "estoy seguro que es así". ¿O cambia la norma según el país?

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Lazarus, ¿hay alguna regla para lo que dices? Te pregunto porque por estos rumbos se dice "estoy seguro que es así". ¿O cambia la norma según el país?

Es un error muy común, Toño, pero estoy completamente seguro de esa regla. De todos modos, mira:

1. estar seguro. ‘No tener duda’. La persona o cosa sobre la que no se tiene duda se expresa mediante un complemento introducido por de: «Estoy segura de que la oirán» (Padilla Jardín [Cuba 1981]). En el habla esmerada, no debe suprimirse la preposición (? queísmo, 1d): Estoy seguro que.

Anway it is a very broad and complicated subject, hopefully this gets you started.

Answer 2

You have had two very good answers but here is an infographic and then a link to an article by a retired professor of Spanish, His site is excellent at explaining all the things us learners need. Lazarus whose answer on word reference is shown by Bosque has frequently posted here and his answers are always exemplary.

jehle - relative pronouns

Answer 3

"Que" or "de que". Which do I use? That question has been around for a long time, although I don't think I've seen it here. It actually has a name: "dequeísmo". It's in the DRAE.

More than forty years ago I was taught to take the sentence and turn it into a question in order to make a determination of which is correct.

For example: "Estoy seguro que.....

¿Qué seguro estás?"

Estoy seguro de que....."

¿De qué estás seguro?

The second example would be the correct one.

The first example doesn't fit because it implies a bit of doubt about the certainness. It's like asking, "How sure are you that....?"