12
votes
Personal pronouns: When to hook at the end of verb and when to keep separate?
The rules themselves are quite complicated especially taking into account dialectal concerns in the north of Spain where due to influence from other languages like Asturian can affect regional speech (...
- 29.8k
10
votes
Accepted
The difference between the use of "les" and "los"
This link about the usage of pronouns lo(s), la(s), le(s) might be useful. Basically, lo and la are pronouns used to refer to the direct complement in a sentence, while le is used to refer to a ...
- 47.6k
9
votes
Accepted
Personal pronouns: When to hook at the end of verb and when to keep separate?
They can go "hooked" to the verb when the verb is in imperative, infinitive or gerund.
¿por qué no puede hacerlo así? / ¿por qué no lo puede hacer así?
¿por qué no están haciéndolo así? / ¿...
- 47.6k
8
votes
Accepted
Is "No la hacemos" a proper translation to "We are not doing it"? Should it be "no lo hacemos"?
La could work, if what you're doing is something feminine (like la tarea).
Lo is used when what you're doing is masculine (like el trabajo).
If what you're doing has no gender because it's a verb ...
- 29.8k
8
votes
Accepted
Dejarte irte, dejarte ir, dejar irte
Según entiendo (1) y (2) son correctas, aunque (1) suena tanto a frase redundante que casi ningún hablante la articularía naturalmente.
(1) Dejarte irte fue un error.
(2) Dejarte ir fue un error.
...
- 38.9k
6
votes
Accepted
'Lo bastante/suficientemente + adjetivo + como para' - Is it possible to drop 'lo' and 'como para'?
Your question asks for several alternative forms. From the start I'd say that the versions with suficientemente are all correct, whether they use lo and/or como:
¿Es lo suficientemente inteligente ...
- 38.9k
6
votes
How to translate "I'm sorry for trying"?
Another option that does not use the infinitive:
Perdona que lo intentara
In this case, as the verb is not in its infinitive form, the object pronoun goes before it. You can use the infinitive in ...
- 76.4k
6
votes
Accepted
How to translate "I'm sorry for trying"?
The correct form would be
Siento haberlo intentado.
In Spanish the object pronouns la, le, lo etc. are always enclitic (they follow the verb) if it's an infinitive, and they're written as one word ...
- 38.9k
6
votes
Sobre el clítico locativo medieval "y"
Hay viene inequívocamente de la contracción hay < ha hi < ha ahí (cf. cat. hi ha, fr. il y a).
No obstante la hipótesis de que soy, doy, voy, estoy (de so, do, vo, esto) también vengan de tal ...
- 19k
5
votes
¿Cuál es la diferencia entre "suficiente" y "lo suficiente"?
The word "lo" is the neutral definite article. It is used when you need to use the definite article to refer to an abstract concept that comes from an adjective. In essence, "lo suficiente" means "...
- 1,304
5
votes
Accepted
¿Cuál es la diferencia entre "suficiente" y "lo suficiente"?
"Suficiente" is an adjective, and as such determines a noun:
No queda suficiente comida.
There is a special case that can also determine a verb: when it precedes by a neutral article "lo" (...
- 15.8k
5
votes
Accepted
When does one replace "le/les" with the pronoun "se"?
The indirect object pronouns le & les change to se when preceding the direct object pronouns lo, la, los & las.
I give it to him- Se lo doy.
(can't be Le lo doy)
She tells her mom ...
- 74
4
votes
When to use "lo" and "le"?
Indeed, there are rules, but it is important to distinguish between the rules that govern Standard Spanish (which should be used in formal communication) and informal or dialectal Spanish — which ...
- 29.8k
4
votes
Accepted
Indirect Object and neuter "lo" usage with inanimate objects
In Standard Spanish, there is generally no distinction made in animacy for the object pronouns1. Lo and la are used for direct objects, being lo for masculine2 and la for feminine. Le is used for ...
- 29.8k
4
votes
¿A qué hace referencia "lo" en "lo flipo"?
Creo que la lista de acepciones del a RAE no es del todo completa. Creo que muchas veces se usa "flipar" con el sentido de alucinar, que sí es transitivo
tr. Sorprender, asombrar, deslumbrar. U. ...
- 47.6k
4
votes
Dado "... existe un tipo de sordera (...). Se *le* conoce como X", ¿podríamos decir "se *lo* conoce"?
«Se le conoce como la “sordera de los Monge”» es leísmo (le es pronombre dativo y en este caso corresponde acusativo, porque la sordera o el tipo de sordera en cuestión son objeto directo del verbo ...
- 38.9k
4
votes
Why is an indirect object used and not a direct object?
Well, I'm not sure about the analysis that you made about the English structure of the sentence.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary
ask
to put a question to someone, or to request an answer ...
- 7,087
3
votes
Personal pronouns: When to hook at the end of verb and when to keep separate?
When the verb contains an infinitive form (plain verb, not modified by conjugation), it is equally valid to place the direct object pronoun (me, lo) at the end of the infinitive verb, or before the ...
- 846
3
votes
The difference between the use of "les" and "los"
"El maestro los lee" would mean that the teacher reads THEM.
"El maestro les lee" means the teacher reads TO them.
"El maestro nos lee" means the teacher reads to US.
- 31
3
votes
¿Cuál es la diferencia entre "suficiente" y "lo suficiente"?
To complement the previous answer, the function of lo is to render the adjective into a noun. So, you can have sentences like lo bonito siempre atrae más, where bonito is an adjective rendered into a ...
- 76.4k
3
votes
When does one replace "le/les" with the pronoun "se"?
As @toni mentioned the use of le/les or se depends on the type of the Object Pronouns (direct vs. indirect pronombres):
DO Pronouns: me, te, lo/la, nos, os, los/las
IO Pronounce: me, te, le, nos, os, ...
- 329
3
votes
What's the function of "lo" in "lo que"?
"Lo que" indeed means "what", not in the interrogative sense, but in the sense of "that which..."
Consider the following examples:
Lo que importa es... / What matters is....
- 51
3
votes
Accepted
Is the indirect pronoun not always necessary? In these examples shouldn't they all have "le" or "les"?
There are three situations in which the indirect object pronoun, when the indirect object itself is explicitly mentioned, is required:
Verbs of the gustar-type
You cannot say Algo gusta al niño, you ...
- 29.8k
3
votes
Accepted
Excepciones de verbos a pronombres enclíticos
Todos los verbos, en algunas de sus formas (tiempos, modos) y ciertas condiciones, aceptan pronombres enclíticos. Las reglas son algo complicadas pero básicamente siempre es correcto el pronombre ...
- 38.9k
3
votes
Accepted
Pregunta sobre uso de pronombres en "dejarse enredar en"
La frase problemática es “dejarse enredar”. Esta es una frase no finita, es decir, una frase con un verbo principal no conjugado (en este caso, un verbo en infinitivo); este verbo principal es dejarse....
- 38.9k
2
votes
What does "lo" in "(no) lo es" refer to?
It is my understanding that "todo" requires the neuter pronoun "lo" when "todo" is not further modified/explained. For example, you could say "Juan lo sabe todo" but not "Juan sabe todo."
However, ...
- 51
2
votes
¿Es lo mismo decir "El tiempo es 'el' que es" que "El tiempo es 'lo' que es"?
No son intercambiables. En la primera frase:
El tiempo es el que es.
"El" hace referencia al propio tiempo. El sentido de la frase implica que el tiempo es invariable, que el tiempo que existe es ...
- 76.4k
2
votes
Accepted
Using lo/la instead of eso/esa (object vs. demonstrative pronouns)
Both of your options are correct and perfectly acceptable. You should translate demonstrative pronouns as they are:
(D.P.) Can you hold this for me? => ¿Me puedes sostener esto?
(D.P.) Can you ...
- 520
2
votes
Accepted
Why do we say "preparó unos polvos que... les hacían llorar" and not "los hacían llorar"?
Seemingly hacer + infinitive constructions in spanish can be very tricky syntactically speaking. And it is even trickier in this case because llorar is normally intransitive, but can be used as ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible