Spanish: An Essential Grammar

Lo with adjectives and past participles

Lomay be used before a masculine singular adjective or past participle, to

state succinctly what is sometimes expressed in English by the use of an

adjective followed by a noun such as ‘thing’ or ‘matter’:

Lo más importante es informar al banco.

The most important thing is to inform the bank.

Todo lo mío está en esa maleta.

All that is mine is in that suitcase.

When used in this construction, the verb ser will be plural if what follows

is a plural noun:

Lo convenido ayer no son más que las líneas generales.

What was agreed yesterday was only the general outlines.

For lowith possessive adjectives see 5.3.

Notes:

1 A+ lo+ adjective or noun conveys the idea of a la manera de‘in the manner/style

of’: a lo antiguo‘in an old-fashioned way’.

2 De+ lo+ más/menos+ adjective (or other comparative word) creates a superla-

tive construction: La lana de alpaca es de lo más fina que hay‘Alpaca wool is

very soft/one of the softest there is’.

Lo + adjective/past participle/adverb + que

This common construction often corresponds to English ‘how’ + adjective

or adverb (sometimes with the force of an exclamation). An adjective or

past participle used in this way agrees with the noun to which it refers:

Hasta entonces no me había dado cuenta de lo alta que era.

Until then I hadn’t realized how tall she was.

Hay que ver lo despacio que conduce.

You have to see how slowly he drives.

For the use of qué+ adjective/adverb to translate ‘how’, see 27.4.1.

This construction is also preceded by con, paraor por:

Con lo listo que es, y ¡mira qué mal ha hecho el examen!

He’s so clever but look how badly he did in the exam!

Tiene bastantes canas para lo joven que es.

He has a lot of grey hairs for someone so young.

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The neuter

article lo

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