¿Dónde está mi pasaporte? Lo he escondido en el cajón.

Questions & Answers about ¿Dónde está mi pasaporte? Lo he escondido en el cajón.

Why is lo placed before he, rather than attached to the end of escondido?
When using the pretérito perfecto (present perfect), object pronouns like lo must always go directly before the conjugated part of the verb haber (in this case, he). You can never put the pronoun between the two verb parts (he lo escondido is incorrect) or attach it to the past participle (he escondidolo is also incorrect).
Why do we use lo here instead of le or la?
Lo is a direct object pronoun meaning "it". It replaces mi pasaporte (my passport). Because pasaporte is a masculine singular noun, we must use the masculine singular pronoun lo to refer back to it.
Why use he escondido instead of the simple past tense escondí?
In Spain, the pretérito perfecto (he escondido) is heavily used to talk about past actions that are still highly relevant to the present moment. Since the speaker is looking for the passport right now, the fact that they hid it has an immediate impact on the present situation.
I know caja means "box". Is cajón ("drawer") related to it?
Yes! The suffix -ón is often added to Spanish words to mean "big". So, a cajón is literally a "big box", which makes perfect sense for a drawer built into a piece of furniture.

Learn ¿Dónde está mi pasaporte? Lo he escondido en el cajón and more in Spanish

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free