"lo" vs "lo que"
"Lo importante" - what is important
Lo que quieres - "the thing that you want" or "that which you want"
Would you ever say "Lo que importante" ? This seems improper to me. Should it be "Lo que es importante" ? Does this translate to "The thing that is important" ?
Maybe someone could translate the following statements... Are any of these incorrect grammar?
"Lo importante" "Lo que importante" "Lo importante que" "Lo importante es" "Lo que importante es" "Lo importante es que"
I believe these all mean slightly different things... Thanks for the help. I am curious what answers come. Thank you
3 Answers
Maybe someone could translate the following statements...
Are any of these incorrect grammar?
"Lo importante" "Lo que importante" "Lo importante que"
"Lo importante es" "Lo que importante es" "Lo importante
es que"
Hi, Joe.
You have to be careful assessing whether a mere phrase or fragment is correct grammar. In English, is "we went gone" correct? Of course it is. "Is the restaurant where we went gone now?"
Having said that... I'm going to rule some things out here, but I can't promise that you couldn't come up with a grammatically correct sentence with those words in that order.
"Lo importante" - The important thing
"Lo que importante" - nope; Lo que importa
"Lo importante que" - nope
"Lo importante es" - The important thing is
"Lo que importante es" - nope; Lo que importa es
"Lo importante es que" - The important thing is that
“Lo que” is used before a verb. “Eso es lo que quiero.” That is what I want
Just “lo” before an adjective is used as follows: “Lo importante” means “the important thing”” or “the important part.
Simple rule (works most of the time) “lo” before adjective. “lo que” before a verb.
The one exception is when naming a subject, as in "lo que él/ella" quiere.
Buena suerte.
In addition to Daniela´s answer, when we use lo / lo que they are neuter gender because there is no associated "thing" , male nor female, described:
Lo que quiero decir es esto .......... (The thing that I want to say is this).
Lo de ayer me puso muy triste ..... (The thing yesterday made me very sad). This sentence structure is used when "the thing yesterday" is already understood by the listener. The use of de simply connects the "thing" to "yesterday".
