Please explain the meaning for "lo" to me!
I saw my friend wrote "lo dejo" on her MSN, but wasn't able to get the meaning. My understanding is that "lo" means "the" and the dictionary attached on this site showed me that "dejo" mean "left" so "the left" doesn't make sense for me. Then I went to ask a native speaker what "lo dejo" means and he told me that it means "let you go". As what he told me, I got confused about the meaning of "lo".
Can anyone explain it to me?
Muchas gracias de antemano,
Marco
26 Answers
Lo means it, not the.
Lo dejo = I leave it
Lo dejó = He/she/usted left it
For example, when you translated "lo de tu hermano estaba fenomenal" to "the business with/about/that happened to your brother was great", you already knew that you were talking about "the business". That's why "lo" was used here to instead "the business" and people don't need to say or write it again. Is my understanding correct'
Yes it assumes that the listener knows what you are talking about either because it has come up before in the same conversation, or if it is known to be common knowledge.
Is that why you used "estaba" in your example instead using "estuvo"'
Well estaba would be more common as it describes a line in the past rather than a dot -but there is much more than this to it and I still have problems with deciding which to use.
You need a book or two -or google it on the web I'm sure you'll find some examples -it's a lengthy topic!
If there is no accent on "o", does that not mean "I leave it"? (present tense)?
If there is an accent on "o", it means "he/she/it left him/her/it". Correct? (past tense"?
If it is translated to "I am leaving him/her/it", is that not supposed to use "lo dejando"?
Thank you, lucy for your answer.
Marco
Thank you, tad for your explanation. The first part is very useful and helpful for me. I got that "hubo" in that case refers to the moment something happens. Do Spanish speakers use the past imperfect tense much more often than past tense as motley said? Is that why you used "estaba" in your example instead using "estuvo"?
"lo" seems like can be used to refer something that's been known and don't want to say the same again, "lo" will be used in this case.
For example, when you translated "lo de tu hermano estaba fenomenal" to "the business with/about/that happened to your brother was great", you already knew that you were talking about "the business". That's why "lo" was used here to instead "the business" and people don't need to say or write it again. Is my understanding correct?
Marco
habrá un accidente is 'there will be an accident'
hubo and había are both past tense but hubo in this case refers to something that was there for a moment - the BANG! of the accident, but as James said you need a couple of chapters of reading to get started on the subject.
Another example of 'lo' is 'lo de' which is very useful for a situation where you want to talk about a matter without going through all the details.
¡Lo de tu hermana estaba fenomenal! -That business with/about/that happened to your brother was great!
No puedo creer lo de Jorge. - I can't believe that stuff about Jorge.
Sometimes "lo" refers to a man since it is the male pronoun used with a reflexive verb. In most of the instances cited previously, that translates to "it" in English since the nouns replaced are masculine. But the expression "lo dejo" (accent on the "o"? or not') could mean "He left it" "He left him," "It left him", or "I am leaving him or it" if used by Spanish speakers from Puerto Rico at least, who use "dejar" for "to leave", and therefore "dejo" is a verb form and the accent is important but if left off can be inferred from the context of the rest of the message.
Click on lessons above, I'm sure there must be something on imperfect. I think había is used more often than hubo.
Do you have any suggestion about a good textbook that I can get?
Marco
Marco, you really need to get yourself a good textbook. There is a good answer to your question, but it's long and I don't have the energy to give it.
Best of luck in your studies!
Gracias, James por tú resquesto.
Hubo makes sense for me because the conjugation shows me that it's the third person past tense.
However it costs another questions. If "hubo" is used for third person past tense, why was "había" used in the second sentence?
"había" is the third person past imperfect tense (I don't really know wht this tense is), what's the difference between past tense and past imperfect tense?
As lazarus 1907 said,
There was a car = Había un coche
There was an accident = Habrá un accidente
I think "hubo" should be used for both sentences if translation both are "there was".
Please tell me the reason, James or lazarus 1907.
Thank you,
Marco
There was an accident = Habrá un accidente
I think you meant to say hubo.
Think of estanged (separado). For a full definition click on the link below. I've pondered on this one too. But that will make a new thread.
I didn't know that there is a difference between personal form and impersonal form. Are there many cases like this in español? Could you please give me some examples?
The conjugation attached on this site shows me that "habrá" is the third person future tense, but as you translated "there was an accident", I got confused here.
Could you please explain it to me?
Marco
For me, I always think grammar is very important whatever language I learn because I want to speak and write correct language. Native speakers will look at me strangly if I make many grammar mistakes. That's what I feel sometimes here.
Gracias,
Marco
Grammar is not absolutely essential for communication, but unless you're going to go through the usual native's life experiences from childhood to adulthood, chances are that you won't learn the same way all natives did, so you are not likely to end up mastering the phonetics and the grammar of the language, especially if you want to end up speaking and writing formal Spanish too.
Grammar -effectively used, of course- can help to ease and speed the learning process, but only as a tool for communication and understanding, which is normally the main point of learning a language.
Grammar is useful in all languages alike.
