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Spanish (Latin America)

### Emphasizing with *Lo que*

When organizing a neighborhood block party, you often need to emphasize exactly what is needed or what must happen. In Spanish, you can do this using a "pseudo-cleft" sentence—a structure that highlights a specific object or action using **lo que** ("what" or "the thing that").

To build this structure, start with **lo que**, followed by a clause, the verb **ser** (usually **es** or **era**), and finally the thing or event you want to emphasize.

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Notice that **lo que** can emphasize both physical objects (like a canopy) and actions (like delegating). You can use it in different tenses as well, such as the past imperfect.

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### Emphasizing with *Lo* + Adjective

If you want to emphasize an abstract quality rather than a specific object, you can combine **lo** with a masculine singular adjective. This translates to "the [adjective] thing".

- **lo importante** (the important thing)
- **lo mejor** (the best thing)

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### Changing the Order of *Lo que*

You are not restricted to putting **lo que** at the beginning of the sentence. You can flip the structure to state the emphasized subject or action first, followed by **es lo que** or **son lo que**.

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You can also use **lo que** at the end of a sentence to refer back to the entire previous idea, often translating to "which is what".

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Emphasizing things and events (lo que)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

expression

interjection

noun

numeral

prep

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and 'to be' (el, la, soy)

Masculine and feminine pairs (el hermano, la hermana)

Basic sentences and negation (no)

Indefinite articles (un, una)

Formal and informal you (tú vs. usted)

Plural pronouns and the verb to be (somos, son)

Making nouns plural (-s, -es)

Plural articles (los, las, unos, unas)

Noun gender exceptions

Adjective agreement

Invariable adjectives

State and location (estar)

Ser vs. estar

There is / there are (hay)

Hay vs. estar

To have (tener)

Possession (de)

Possessive adjectives (mi, tu, su)

Regular -ar verbs

Yes/No questions

What and who (qué, quién)

Regular -er verbs

Regular -ir verbs

Asking where (dónde, adónde)

How, when, and why (cómo, cuándo, por qué)

How much and how many (cuánto)

Days of the week

Going to a place (ir a)

Preposition contractions (al, del)

In and by (en)

With me and with you (conmigo, contigo)

Prepositional pronouns (mí, ti)

Conjunctions (y, o, pero)

Giving reasons (porque)

Stem-changing verbs (e to ie)

Stem-changing verbs (o to ue)

Stem-changing verbs (e to i)

Irregular yo forms (hago, salgo)

To know (saber vs. conocer)

Weather expressions (hace, está)

Desires and plans (querer)

Ability and requests (poder)

Obligations (tener que)

Expressing likes (me gusta)

Plural likes (me gustan)

Verbs like gustar (encantar, doler)

Very vs. a lot (muy, mucho)

Numbers 0 to 15 (cero, uno, dos…)

Numbers 16 to 31 (dieciséis, veinte…)

Numbers 30 to 1000 (treinta, cien, mil)

Months of the year (enero, febrero, marzo)

Seasons and dates (el dos de mayo)

Telling time (es la..., son las...)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primero, segundo, tercero)

Reflexive pronouns and verbs (me, te, se, nos)

Direct object pronouns (lo, la, los, las)

The near future (ir a)

The present continuous (estar + -ando, -iendo)

Near demonstrative adjectives (este, esta, estos, estas)

Medium demonstrative adjectives (ese, esa, esos, esas)

Comparatives of inequality (más / menos ... que)

Comparatives of equality (tan ... como)

Indefinite and negative pronouns (algo, nada, alguien, nadie)

Affirmative commands

Far demonstratives (aquel, aquella)

Possessive pronouns (el mío, el tuyo)

Shortened indefinite adjectives (algún, ningún)

Adverbs of quantity (demasiado, bastante)

Adverbs of frequency (a menudo, a veces)

Adverb formation (-mente)

Exclamations (¡Qué...!)

Irregular comparatives (mejor, peor, mayor, menor)

Relative superlatives (el más... de)

Adjective intensification (-ísimo)

Indirect object pronouns

Pronoun placement with infinitives

Double object pronouns (me lo, te la)

The 'se lo' rule (se lo, se la)

Impersonal statements (se)

Impersonal obligation (hay que)

Personal obligation (deber)

Starting actions (empezar a)

Finishing and quitting actions (terminar de, dejar de)

Repeating actions (volver a)

Continuing actions (seguir + gerundio)

Question	Answer
the canopy	el toldo
What we need is a big canopy for the street.	Lo que necesitamos es un toldo grande para la calle.
to delegate	delegar
What you must do is delegate the canopy rental.	Lo que debes hacer es delegar el alquiler del toldo.
the city hall	la alcaldía
pleasant	ameno
What city hall asks for is a pleasant event.	Lo que pide la alcaldía es un evento ameno.
What I was looking for was the city hall office.	Lo que estaba buscando era la oficina de la alcaldía.
the entertainment	el entretenimiento
What makes the afternoon pleasant is the entertainment.	Lo que hace amena la tarde es el entretenimiento.
The important thing is to delegate the entertainment to the neighbors.	Lo importante es delegar el entretenimiento a los vecinos.
to grill	asar
the cooler	la hielera
What I propose is grilling the meat next to the cooler.	Lo que propongo es asar la carne junto a la hielera.
the keg	el barril
There will be a cooler and a keg, which is what is missing.	Habrá una hielera y un barril, que es lo que falta.
the appetizer	el aperitivo
What the neighbor is bringing is a keg and some appetizers.	Lo que trae el vecino es un barril y unos aperitivos.
the garland	la guirnalda
The best thing is serving the appetizers under the garlands.	Lo mejor es servir los aperitivos debajo de las guirnaldas.
The garlands are what decorates our block.	Las guirnaldas son lo que decora nuestra cuadra.
Grilling the vegetables is what I recommend to you for dinner.	Asar las verduras es lo que te recomiendo para la cena.