Learn Spanish (Latin America): Como no vigiles la calle, lo vas a perder todo. - If you do not guard the street, you are going to lose everything.

Como no vigiles la calle, lo vas a perder todo.

If you do not guard the street, you are going to lose everything.

Breakdown of Como no vigiles la calle, lo vas a perder todo.

Questions & Answers about Como no vigiles la calle, lo vas a perder todo.

Why use como instead of si to say 'if' in this sentence?

In this context, como introduces a conditional clause of warning or threat. While si no vigilas just states a neutral condition (if you don't guard), como no vigiles carries a much stronger, threatening tone: 'If you don't guard the street (and you really better do it), there will be consequences!'

Why is vigiles in the subjunctive mood?

When como is used to express a conditional warning or threat, it forces the verb into the subjunctive mood. If you were using si for a likely condition, you would use the present indicative (si no vigilas), but the como structure requires the subjunctive as a set rule for these types of warnings.

Why is there a lo in lo vas a perder todo? Doesn't todo already mean 'everything'?

Yes, but in Spanish, whenever todo (everything) acts as the direct object of the sentence, it requires the direct object pronoun lo to be used as well. This is a mandatory redundancy in Spanish grammar. It literally translates to 'you are going to lose it everything.'

Since there is an infinitive (perder), could I put the lo somewhere else?