Kevin lo es todo para mí.

Question

Karen opened a thread and asked a question.
I gave some possible answers and among them.I said:

Kevin lo es todo para mí.

Feliz asked why I had used "lo", what it stood for.

As usual I don't know the rules but it sounds perfect to me and for native speakers (my husband agrees) it does too.

Can someone explain or give other examples?

Answer 1

From: A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish

(i) Lo is used to echo or resume the predicate of ser, estar and parecer , the object of transitive verbs and of haber ‘there is/are’. Spanish does not like to leave these verbs isolated, as English does in a sentence like puedo aguantar el estar cansado, pero preferiría no estar lo ‘I can stand being tired, but I'd rather not be’. Compare also lo hacían sentirse estúpido. Pensó: “lo soy”. Lo era, demostró serlo (M. Vargas Llosa, Pe., dialogue) ‘they made him feel stupid. He thought “I am.” He was. He'd shown he was’; ¿tolera estar solo, o tolera la necesidad que tenga su cónyuge de estarlo? (quiz on marriage in Abc , Sp.) ‘can you stand being alone, or can you stand your partner's need to be?’; ya nadie la llamaba Clarita, como lo habían hecho siempre sus difuntos padres y marido (M. Puig, Arg., dialogue) ‘by now nobody called her Clarita, as her late parents and husband had done’. Resumptive lo is not used when a gerund is dropped after estar :— ¿estás escribiendo otra novela? — Sí, estoy/Sí, lo estoy haciendo (not * lo estoy ) ‘“are you writing another novel?’ “Yes, I am.”’ Resumptive lo is often omitted in Latin-American speech and sometimes in Latin-American writing. See 30.2.2 for more details about the resumptive pronoun with haber ‘there is/are’. (ii) Lo is sometimes used before todo to make the latter more specific. Compare Miguel lo sabe todo ‘Miguel knows it all/all about it’ and Miguel sabe todo ‘Miguel knows everything’. (iii) For Latin-American ? se los dije ‘I said it to them’, standard Spanish se lo dije , see 11.13.2 . (iv) La is used in a few colloquial set phrases where we would expect lo . This seems to be more frequent in Latin America than in Spain: la vamos a pasar muy rico (S. Galindo, Mex., dialogue; Sp. lo vamos a pasar ) ‘we're going to have a great time’, si los matan la pagarán también ustedes, la pagarán sus familias (G. García Márquez, Col., dialogue; Sp. lo pagarán ), ‘if they kill them you'll pay for it too, your families will pay’, te la estás jugando ‘you're taking a big risk’, se la está pegando con su primo ‘(s)he's cheating on him with her/his/your cousin’, te la vas a ganar ‘you're asking for trouble ’.

I knew you would be along with the actual grammar. :) - bosquederoble, Aug 2, 2017

Yes, and it is so much easier now that I have the electronic version. I can search and use cut and paste and do in 2 minutes something that used to take much longer or I wouldn't bother. :) - DilKen, Aug 2, 2017

Thanks. - Echoline, Aug 2, 2017

Answer 2

I have never seen a grammatical explanation. But it is what is done. Only with todo, as far as I know.

Ella sabe poco.

Ella sabe mucho.

Ella lo sabe todo.

We do the same in some cases in English.

She knows everything. But she knows it all. You can't say she knows all (well you can, but it is not quite normal).

I think the lo is just like the it I have to put in "it all"

Also think about how todo is different here:

Muchas cosas

Algunas cosas

Todas las cosas.

Good point! - Echoline, Aug 2, 2017

Answer 3

I thought of

Esa actriz lo tiene todo.

Ese hombre lo sabe todo.

Ese político lo denuncia todo.

Could these be examples of the same above? Then, what's "lo" ?

Polenta: it is called the resumptive lo by grammarians. See my answer for further explanation. - DilKen, Aug 2, 2017

We would translate lo as it in those sentences. - Mardle, Aug 2, 2017

Very subtle difference normally when translated to English. That actress has it all, versus that actress has everything. In some uses of lo in Spanish it isn't even translated. - DilKen, Aug 2, 2017

Example: Are you the one? Lo soy. In English we would just say "I am", never "I am it." - DilKen, Aug 2, 2017

I just think of it as: English demands subject pronouns, Spanish object pronouns, and not vice versa. :) - bosquederoble, Aug 2, 2017

Lo is often used for abstract reasons lo Azul lo bueno etc. In the end I think Spanish sentences are more carefully constructed than English ones. - Mardle, Aug 2, 2017

In very formal or antiquated usage we might say, Yes, I am he/she. But not in modern everyday usage, at least not in the U.S. Just like "It is I" is quite rare now compared to "It's me" - DilKen, Aug 2, 2017

Answer 4

So resumptive "lo".
Spanish grammar is kind of difficult especially for me to explain.

I remember an American sitcom or TV series called Papá lo sabe todo or Father knows best starring Robert Young.

Answer 5

Lo es is a personal pronoun referring to him, you or it.