Hagas lo que hagas, no te desanimes; aprender un idioma lleva tiempo.

Whatever you do, don’t get discouraged; learning a language takes time.

Breakdown of Hagas lo que hagas, no te desanimes; aprender un idioma lleva tiempo.

• un: a
• aprender: to learn
• ;: semicolon
• el idioma: the language

Questions & Answers about Hagas lo que hagas, no te desanimes; aprender un idioma lleva tiempo.

Why is hagas repeated in Hagas lo que hagas?

This is a very common Spanish pattern:

• hagas lo que hagas
• digas lo que digas
• vayas donde vayas
• pase lo que pase

It means whatever you do / say / wherever you go / whatever happens.

So hagas appears twice because Spanish builds this idea with:

• a verb in the subjunctive
• a linker such as lo que, donde, quien, etc.
• the same verb again

Literally, Hagas lo que hagas is something like Do whatever you do, but in natural English it means Whatever you do.

What does lo que mean here?

Here, lo que means what or whatever.

A useful way to think about it:

• que = that / what
• lo = a neutral article, often used to turn something into the thing that or what

So:

• lo que dices = what you say
• lo que quieras = whatever you want
• hagas lo que hagas = whatever you do

In this sentence, lo que helps create that whatever... meaning.

Why is hagas in the subjunctive instead of haces?