Learn Spanish (Spain): ¿El equipaje? Lo vamos a poner en el coche. - The luggage? We are going to put it in the car.

This sentence uses the formula for the near future: the conjugated verb ir (to go) + a + an infinitive verb. Here, vamos means 'we are going', followed by a, and then the infinitive poner (to put). Together, vamos a poner translates perfectly to 'we are going to put'.

Why is Lo at the beginning of the sentence instead of next to the verb?

Lo means 'it', replacing el equipaje (the luggage). When you use a two-verb structure like vamos a poner, you have two choices for where to put little words like lo. You can put it right before the conjugated verb (Lo vamos a poner) or you can attach it directly to the end of the infinitive (Vamos a ponerlo). Both are common and perfectly correct!

Why do we use lo to mean 'it' here?

Because Spanish nouns have gender, the word for 'it' has to match the noun it replaces. El equipaje is a masculine word, so we use the masculine pronoun lo. If we were talking about a feminine word, like la maleta (the suitcase), we would say La vamos a poner instead.

Is equipaje masculine even though it ends in an 'e'?