Breakdown of Lo que veo aquí es un fraude y estoy indignado.
ser
to be
y
and
un
a, an (masculine)
ver
to see / to look / appear
Questions & Answers about Lo que veo aquí es un fraude y estoy indignado.
Why do we use lo que here instead of just qué for "what"?
In Spanish, qué (with an accent) is used for asking direct questions, like "¿Qué es esto?" (What is this?). When "what" isn't a question but instead means "the thing that" or "that which", you use lo que. Here, lo que veo means "the thing that I see." It acts as a neutral pronoun representing an abstract situation that hasn't been specifically named.
Why do we use es for the first part of the sentence, but estoy for the second part?
This is a great example of the difference between ser and estar in a single sentence. We use es (from ser) to identify or define what something is—in this case, defining the situation as a noun (un fraude). We use estoy (from estar) to talk about temporary emotions and states of being, like feeling outraged (indignado).
If a woman were saying this, would lo que change to la que?
No, lo que stays exactly the same! The lo in lo que is neuter (genderless) because it refers to an abstract idea or situation, not a specific masculine or feminine object. However, the very last word of the sentence would change to indignada so the emotional adjective matches the feminine gender of the speaker.
I see un fraude, so I know it's masculine. Are most words ending in "-e" masculine?