Breakdown of Lo bueno es que no tienen armas peligrosas.
ser
to be
bueno
good
no
no / not
tener
to have
que
that (relative pronoun, conjunction)
peligroso
dangerous
lo
the … thing (neuter article before an adjective)
el arma
the weapon
Questions & Answers about Lo bueno es que no tienen armas peligrosas.
Why is the adjective peligrosas feminine if the word for weapon is usually el arma?
The noun arma is actually feminine. In the singular, it uses the masculine article el (el arma) just to avoid the awkward sound of two stressed 'a's crashing together (la arma). But in the plural, that sound clash is gone, so it goes back to normal feminine rules. That is why it takes the feminine plural adjective peligrosas and would use the feminine plural article las (las armas).
What does lo mean here in Lo bueno? Why not use El bueno?
Lo is the neuter article. We use it with a masculine singular adjective to talk about abstract ideas or concepts. Lo bueno translates to 'the good thing' or 'what is good'. If you said el bueno, you would be referring to a specific good person or masculine object ('the good one').
Why isn't the subjunctive used here, since Lo bueno es que seems like it expresses an opinion?
Lo bueno es que (The good thing is that) states what a fact actually is, rather than reacting to it. Because it introduces a fact, it takes the normal indicative mood (tienen). You would use the subjunctive for a reaction structure like es bueno que (it is good that), for example: Es bueno que no tengan armas (It is good that they do not have weapons).
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