Breakdown of Ese cuadro es refeo, no se lo muestro.
ser
to be
no
no, not
el cuadro
the painting
ese
that (masculine)
lo
it / him (direct object)
mostrar
to show
se
to him / to her / to them / to you (formal)
feo
ugly
Questions & Answers about Ese cuadro es refeo, no se lo muestro.
How does refeo work? Can I just attach re- to any adjective?
Yes! In Latin American Spanish, you can attach the prefix re- directly to many adjectives (like feo) and adverbs to mean "super" or "very." It forms a single word: refeo (super ugly). It is very common in casual everyday speech, but keep in mind that it's colloquial, so you should avoid it in formal writing.
Why does it say se lo muestro instead of le lo muestro?
This is a great refresher for the "no le lo" rule! Lo is the direct object meaning "it" (the painting), and le is the indirect object meaning "to him." However, Spanish doesn't allow le and lo to sit right next to each other. Whenever that happens, the le changes to se to make it easier to pronounce.
Why use es instead of está for being ugly?
We use es (from the verb ser) because the painting being ugly is treated as a permanent, built-in characteristic of the object. If you used está, it would imply that the painting just looks ugly temporarily (perhaps due to bad lighting or a dirty frame), which doesn't fit the speaker's meaning here.
Why is the word for "that" ese and not eso?
Ese is the masculine singular adjective for "that," used right before a masculine noun like cuadro. You only use eso when referring to an abstract idea, a general situation, or an unidentified object (like pointing and asking, "What is that?"). Since we know we are pointing at a specific masculine noun, ese is the correct choice.
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