Voted Best Answer
May 25, 2012 - 07:50 PM
Hi! I'll make a quick review of both uses and try to make it clearer.
You use "Lo que" in expression in which you would use "what" in English as in:
What upsets me --- Lo que me molesta
What worries me --- Lo que me preocupa
What I think --- Lo que (yo) pienso
What I want --- Lo que (yo) quiero
What I hate --- Lo que (yo) odio
What you/they/we want --- Lo que tú quieres / Lo que ellos quieren/ Lo que nosotros queremos
What he/she wants --- Lo que él/ella quiere
What happens is --- Lo que pasa es
What is wrong is --- Lo que está mal es
That is, in cases were "What" is used before the pronoun (I, you, etc.), or there is no pronoun at all after "What". In these cases "What" translates as "Lo que"
Instead, when you include the pronoun before "That" as in:
I / You / We / They think that -- Yo pienso que / Tú piensas que / Nosotros pensamos que / Ellos piensan que
He / She thinks that --- Él / Ella piensa que
It seems that --- Parece que
You use "Que" by itself.
When you're asking questions, as in: "What do you want?" the "What" there translates as "Que" --- ¿Qué quieres? (What do you want?)
But if you ask: "What is IT THAT you want?" Then the "IT THAT" becomes "Lo que " in Spanish --- ¿Qué es LO QUE quieres?
When you say "I want you to" --- that "To" is always used as "Que" in Spanish
I want you to learn --- Yo quiero que tú aprendas
I want you to do --- Quiero que tú hagas
When you use "That" in the middle of a sentence as in:
The things that happened --- Las cosas QUE pasaron
He knew that we were there --- Él sabía QUE estábamos ahí
The "Que" is going in the exact same place as "That". So that pretty much summarizes the uses and differences between both. So review where "Lo que" is used and you'll surely know when to use it from now on. Hope this helped! Cheers.
You use "Lo que" in expression in which you would use "what" in English as in:
What upsets me --- Lo que me molesta
What worries me --- Lo que me preocupa
What I think --- Lo que (yo) pienso
What I want --- Lo que (yo) quiero
What I hate --- Lo que (yo) odio
What you/they/we want --- Lo que tú quieres / Lo que ellos quieren/ Lo que nosotros queremos
What he/she wants --- Lo que él/ella quiere
What happens is --- Lo que pasa es
What is wrong is --- Lo que está mal es
That is, in cases were "What" is used before the pronoun (I, you, etc.), or there is no pronoun at all after "What". In these cases "What" translates as "Lo que"
Instead, when you include the pronoun before "That" as in:
I / You / We / They think that -- Yo pienso que / Tú piensas que / Nosotros pensamos que / Ellos piensan que
He / She thinks that --- Él / Ella piensa que
It seems that --- Parece que
You use "Que" by itself.
When you're asking questions, as in: "What do you want?" the "What" there translates as "Que" --- ¿Qué quieres? (What do you want?)
But if you ask: "What is IT THAT you want?" Then the "IT THAT" becomes "Lo que " in Spanish --- ¿Qué es LO QUE quieres?
When you say "I want you to" --- that "To" is always used as "Que" in Spanish
I want you to learn --- Yo quiero que tú aprendas
I want you to do --- Quiero que tú hagas
When you use "That" in the middle of a sentence as in:
The things that happened --- Las cosas QUE pasaron
He knew that we were there --- Él sabía QUE estábamos ahí
The "Que" is going in the exact same place as "That". So that pretty much summarizes the uses and differences between both. So review where "Lo que" is used and you'll surely know when to use it from now on. Hope this helped! Cheers.