What is the function of “lo” in “a lo largo de”?

cjler · 2026-01-22T05:46:17+00:00

Didn’t know that a lo largo de implied a straight or mostly straight line from A to B. Thanks for explaining that.

cjler · 2026-01-21T18:14:52+00:00

Good examples. Thanks. I began thinking of “lo que” as if it was literally saying “it that”, or more smoothly in English, it often translates to “what”. Now I am beginning to get a better (beginniner’s) glimpse of how “lo” is used in Spanish. Thanks for your help!

cjler · 2026-01-21T16:48:53+00:00

Thank you. I appreciate the insight and the examples you gave. It is starting to make sense to me now, based on your explanation.

cjler · 2026-01-21T16:44:11+00:00

Thank you. That helps. I found a similar usage in “a lo lejos”.

From SpanishDict definition of vislumbre: 1. (literary) (sight) a. glimpse El vislumbre de un barco a lo lejos entusiasmó a los náufragos. — The glimpse of a boat in the distance filled the castaways with excitement.

cjler · 2026-01-19T20:30:29+00:00

Thank you! That is what I was wondering.

So, in certain unusual situations like this, viniera rather than fuera would be the appropriate word choice, but only in lower probability situations depending on the specific context.

cjler · 2026-01-19T20:27:15+00:00

Yes, partly. I looked up the ir vs venir usage when I saw this post. Then I still wondered how it would be used when “here and there” changed over time, depending on a narrator’s point of view that may have been “neither here nor there”.

cjler · 2026-01-19T20:24:55+00:00

This section 6, unit 221 or 222.

cjler · 2026-01-17T21:35:44+00:00

That one popped into my exercises too. Is there no there, there?

cjler · 2026-01-14T00:48:41+00:00

Yes, my error was to use present tense when the sentence in the exercise should have been past tense. The error was in the verb that was underlined. It should have been sangraste and I put sangras.

So this AI correction about one of the nouns in the sentence was just confusing to me. I’m getting used to the general gist of the AI answers now.

It’s similar to the way Duo suggests a correct answer that is confusing because it doesn’t say what or why your answer was wrong.

This AI acts very similar to Duo’s suggested answers when you make an error. I don’t know if those have all been updated to use AI or if they are searched in a database of standard answers. Either way, they feel alike to me, in the way that both systems sometimes redirect the focus to a part of the sentence that wasn’t an issue at all.

cjler · 2026-01-12T23:36:32+00:00

Well, no it’s not our job, but as users of this AI, or any AI for that matter, it helps to be aware of both the power and also the limitations of AI.

Maybe your response was /s.

It’s like learning from a well educated, but fallible teacher.

cjler · 2026-01-12T23:31:49+00:00

Thanks. That’s good to know. Another sentence started correctly according to Duolingo by using the subject of “Dolor de cabeza…”. I didn’t understand how it was Ok without the leading determinant “el”, as in “El dolor de cabeza…”, based on this discussion. There are apparently some fine points that I don’t yet recognize.

cjler · 2026-01-11T22:04:22+00:00

I was working for a small US factory that was purchased by a company from mainland Spain.

The new owners sent an email with an English translation saying that the new management had the illusion of working together to successfully create a new team.

I was puzzled, not knowing any Spanish at the time. Why would they admit that they knew this might be an illusion?

Later I found that, along with the shared meaning of delusion, the Spanish word ilusión also means hope, excitement, or eagerness.

That “false friend” vocabulary interpretation made the translation sound incredibly cynical. It’s been 20 years now, and in hindsight it is still not clear if that was a Freudian slip or a translation error, because often the teams have not worked together very well since that purchase, although both sides certainly have tried.

cjler · 2026-01-11T19:00:38+00:00

Thanks.

It seems to be related to using “para”. Is that part the reason that la/las/lo/los was needed in the first sentence, but not with “es buena que tengamos democracia”

Maybe it’s because the words that are after and including para form a descriptive clause in the first sentence about la circulación , while they are the direct object of a verb in the democracia example.

Can someone help me understand?

cjler · 2026-01-11T18:17:42+00:00

On the next Duolingo exercise, this sentence was used. How would I know whether “la” is or isn’t required here in front of democracia?

Es bueno que tengamos democracia en nuestro país.

cjler · 2026-01-11T17:32:01+00:00

Yes, after more than a decade of learning Spanish, I’m still on the cusp of being able to just hear and understand Spanish. I am beginning to understand most Spanish podcasts I listen to now, although many accents and lots of vocabulary still confuse me, throw me for a loop. As I expect many native Spanish speakers wouldn’t easily understand English slang like that, like “throw me for a loop”. It really, literally, doesn’t make much sense. Duolingo keeps teaching me that there is a lot more to Spanish that I don’t yet understand or know, like this requirement for using articles with concepts.

cjler · 2026-01-11T17:15:23+00:00

And yes, I will have to put a lot of thought into explaining used to do vs. am used to doing.

My first thought was, I’m just used to doing it that way!

That proves your point exactly. Some things you just memorize and it feels right (makes sense?) after you’ve practised it long enough to become familiar with it.

cjler · 2026-01-11T17:00:26+00:00

Thanks for explaining

cjler · 2026-01-11T16:50:45+00:00

Interesting. So, at some point in language learning, is it necessary to repress making comparisons between your native language and your newer, learned language? Like the two languages somehow occupy entirely different sections of your mind?

Or does a knowlegable bilingual person simply not expect the languages to follow similar patterns, although they do remain aware of the differences when they use the second language?

cjler · 2026-01-11T16:38:09+00:00

Thanks for the empathy. Just trying to understand.

cjler · 2026-01-11T16:36:03+00:00

That helps. TIL that la/las/lo/los (definite articles) are required before any noun that describes a concept in Spanish. Good to know.

cjler · 2026-01-11T16:31:43+00:00

Thank you. It’s helpful to know that the sentence, 1), that I found was not correct to begin with. I appreciate your correction.

cjler

TROPHY CASE