Hizo lo mejor que pudo y Hizo el mejor que pudo
I don't really understand using lo as a neuter article. For example isn't Hizo lo mejor que pudo saying the same thing as Hizo el mejor que pudo
11 Answers
And I have decided to ban Lazarus from this forum. (He is getting all the attention and I am hopelessly jelous.)
James Santiago used to get a lot of attention too, then he suddenly disappeared. Hmmm....
No hay nada más peligroso que una mujer celosa
jeje, generally true, indeed, however, I had nothing to do with that disappearance, 
May be his wife got fed up with his being here all the time! jeje
Many people come and go, some are missed, others not so much . I believe Lazarus would be missed , intensely so...hmmmm, I will have to rethink that banning then. 
If you say "el mejor que pudo", I, as a native, will not help asking you: El... ¿qué?
Lazarus, was that "will not help" a typo? It makes no sense to me, although I'm guesing you mean "I won't be able to void asking".
Now surely that´s a typing error and it should be "I won't be able to Avoid asking".
And I have decided to ban Lazarus from this forum. (He is getting all the attention and I am hopelessly jelous.)
James Santiago used to get a lot of attention too, then he suddenly disappeared. Hmmm....
No hay nada más peligroso que una mujer celosa 
Gracias, thats the answer I was looking for. SpanishDict Forums aka Laz's House lolOHHHHHHHHHHHH, I was wondering on another thread what that was supposed to mean.
And I have decided to ban Lazarus from this forum. 
He is getting all the attention and I am hopelessly jelous. So, let's do it! 
Gracias, thats the answer I was looking for. SpanishDict Forums aka Laz's House lol
-He did the best (that) he could (Hizo el mejor que pudo, right')
No, sorry, my mistake. If you say "El mejor..." you have to provide a noun to follow that: "el mejor pastel", "el mejor niño", "el mejor... WHATEVER". You can't just say "el mejor". In these cases where you use an adjective (i.e. "mejor"), you always use "lo".
Okay let me refrase, can someone just explain to me how to use lo as a neuter article.
Also how would you translate he did the best he could as if I just asked you how he did at something
How did he do in the game?
-He did the best (that) he could (Hizo el mejor que pudo, right')
By the way I took this example from off the reference page
As Robert says, "the (thing)" is definitely the best rough translation for "lo". Although often "what" is the most natural translation, it doesn't give any insight into why using "lo", but "the (thing)" does:
Lo mejor = The best (thing)
Lo extraño = The strange thing
Lo que quiero = The thing that I want (=what I want)
What lazerus wrote was perfectly correct and understandable. It kind of means "I can't resist the urge to ask you..."
What you wrote about "won't be able to help" has pretty much the same meaning except that you are expressing yourself in the future. Essentially the infinitive of "can" is "be able to".
I can play tennis today.
I will be able to play tennis tomorrow.
I was able to play tennis yesterday.
With regards to the question about "lo". I, as somebody learning Spanish, have always felt it useful to translate "lo" in such constructions as "thing". Therefore "hice lo mejor que pudo" becomes "I did the best thing I could".
If you say "el mejor que pudo", I, as a native, can't help asking you: El... ¿qué? ¿El mejor dulce que pudo? (the best cake he could) ¿El mejor partido que pudo? (the best match he could).
When you say "el", you are talking about something or someone with masculine gender; there must be a reason why it is masculine and not feminine. What is the reason? What kind of "el..." are you referring to? When we don't have anything specific to refer to, and therefore, no gender to use, and we are using adjectives to describe it, we switch to "lo".
If you say "el mejor que pudo", I, as a native, will not help asking you: El... ¿qué?
Lazarus, was that "will not help" a typo? It makes no sense to me, although I'm guesing you mean "I won't be able to void asking".
