Word
Lo fascinante es la historia de la ciudad.
Meaning
The fascinating thing is the history of the city.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Lo fascinante es la historia de la ciudad.
ser
to be
de
of
la ciudad
the city
la historia
the story / the history
Questions & Answers about Lo fascinante es la historia de la ciudad.
Why do we use lo instead of el or la before fascinante?
We use lo because it is a neuter article. When you put lo in front of a singular adjective like fascinante, it translates to 'the fascinating thing' or 'what is fascinating'. We aren't describing a specific masculine or feminine noun here; we are talking about an abstract concept.
Since la historia and la ciudad are feminine, shouldn't the start of the sentence be la fascinante?
No, because lo fascinante (the fascinating thing) is an independent concept and the subject of the sentence. Even though it is being linked to a feminine noun (la historia), the phrase lo fascinante stands on its own. Also, adjectives ending in -e like fascinante have the same form for both masculine and feminine anyway!
Can I just say la cosa fascinante instead of lo fascinante?
Yes, you can say la cosa fascinante, which literally translates to 'the fascinating thing'. However, using lo + adjective is a very common and natural shortcut in Spanish. You will hear phrases like lo bueno (the good thing) or lo fascinante much more often than actually using the word cosa (thing).
Why do we use es and not está in this sentence?