Lo In Spanish: 4 Ultimate Ways To Correctly Use Lo Spanish Pronoun (Examples)

CARLA
Pero, ¿a ti te importa lo que piensen los demás de ti?
(But, do you care what others think of you?)

MAURA
Lo importante es lo que piensa mi familia y mis amigos. Lo que piensan los desconocidos, no.
(The important thing is what my family and friends think. What strangers think, no.)

“Lo” is one of those words that identifies Spanish anywhere. It’s used so much that it could be too much. But that’s because of the many different uses it has.

Hi there! This is Maura from Spring Spanish. Today we’ll talk about all the faces of this versatile little word: Lo in Spanish. Let’s begin!

1. Lo in Spanish as a direct object pronoun

This lo in Spanish that you’ll see in the dialogue behaves as a direct object pronoun. In short, this means that it replaces the object on which the verb acts.

Pay attention.

CARLA
¿Viste a Mauricio ayer?
(Did you see Mauricio yesterday?)

MAURA
No, no lo vi. No me dio tiempo. Al final fui a comprar un material que necesitaba y ya.
(No, I didn’t see him. I didn’t have time. In the end I went to buy some material I needed and that was it.)

CARLA
¿Para la sesión de fotos? ¿Por fin lo compraste? ¡Qué bueno!
(For the photoshoot? You finally bought it? That’s great!)

MAURA
Sí, tenía tiempo con eso pendiente. Ayer me decidí y lo fui a comprar todo.
(Yes, it had been pending for a long time. Yesterday I made up my mind and went to buy everything.)

Lo in Spanish replaces masculine and singular objects.

That’s why we use “lo” and not “la” or “los“, for example. These pronouns give some work in Spanish. You can click here if you want me to help you understand them better.

As a general rule, never use it with verbs like “decir” (to say), “hablar” (to speak) or “dar” (to give). Outside of these verbs and their derivatives, it is used with almost any verb, like:

2. Lo que expression in Spanish

This “lo que” is one of the most common two-word combinations in the entire Spanish language.

The first thing we can tell you is that “lo que” is always followed by verbs. This has an exception that we will discuss after the dialogue.

MAURA
Lo que no entiendo es por qué van a quitar más árboles de la plaza.
(What I don’t understand is why they are going to remove more trees from the plaza.)

CARLA
Según lo que me dijeron, es por riesgo de caída. Por los vientos.
(According to what I was told, it is because of the risk of falling. Because of the winds.)

MAURA
Qué mala manera de manejar la situación. Lo que menos necesita esta ciudad es menos árboles.(What a bad way to handle the situation. The last thing this city needs is fewer trees.)

CARLA
Eso es exactamente lo que yo creo. Nos tocará protestar.
(That is exactly what I believe. We will have to protest.)

Did you find “lo que” in the dialogues? Look at more examples and now let’s talk about the exceptions:

“Lo que” works as a synonym for “la cosa que” (the thing that).

In English, for example, you can think of “lo que” as:

• “the thing that” or
• “that which”.

Now, we have some exceptions.

Certain words can come between “lo que” and the verb.

The most common ones are:

• más (more),
• menos (less),
• muchos (many),
• pocos (few),
• todos (all).

Let’s review examples of this:

3. Use lo curioso, lo importante es: Lo in Spanish + adjective

This “lo” is called “the neutral article”. This “lo” is followed by adjectives. Always adjectives in masculine and singular form.

MAURA
Lo bueno es que los vecinos siempre nos apoyan.
(The good thing is that the neighbors always support us.)

CARLA
Sí, eso sí. Lo importante es que nos organicemos y les avisemos.
(Yes, that’s right. The important thing is that we organize ourselves and let them know.)

MAURA
Tal cual. Lo malo es que yo no tengo nada de tiempo esta semana.
(That’s right. The bad thing is that I don’t have any time this week.)

CARLA
Me imaginé. No te preocupes. Yo me encargo.
(I figured. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.)

You could think of this “lo” as: “aquello que es …” (that which is …).

In English it corresponds to the structure:

the + adjective + thing.

That is: “Lo curioso” would be “the curious thing”. “Lo importante” would be “the important thing”.

Look at more examples:

The following structure is quite common:

“lo” + más + adjective + de todo

So we’ll show you examples of it:

4. Chunks native speakers use with Lo in Spanish

There are several chunks that include “lo” and that don’t completely fit into the previous categories. These chunks are really common and are used daily.

MAURA
A lo mejor tenemos que pedir algún permiso.
(Maybe we have to ask for a permit.)

CARLA
Sí, es lo más probable. A lo largo de la semana lo reviso.
(Yes, it is most likely. I will check it during the week.)

MAURA
Genial. Por lo visto esas cosas son rápidas, así que da tiempo.
(Great. Apparently those things are quick, so there is time.)

CARLA
Seguramente. Igual, lo hago lo antes posible por si acaso y te aviso.
(Surely. Nevertheless, I will do it as soon as possible just in case and let you know.)

Let’s look at more examples with the chunks from the dialogue and add a few more:

We hope you feel more confident about how to use “lo” in Spanish.

As I told you at the beginning, “lo” is sometimes a direct object pronoun. These pronouns construct all kinds of sentences in Spanish.

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