📖LearnModule 9 · Lesson 16 of 30Independent User · CEFR B2, completedUnit 4 · Los relativos complejos
Lo que, lo cual
Module 9 of the free Spanish course (CEFR B2, completed), lesson 16 of 30: When the thing you are pointing at is not a noun but a whole idea. On this page: 9 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
The words
Spanish
English
Say it
lo que me interesa
what interests me
loh keh meh een-teh-REH-sah
lo que quiero
what I want
loh keh KYEH-roh
lo cual
which (referring to a whole idea)
loh KWAHL
llegó tarde, lo cual me molestó
he arrived late, which annoyed me
yeh-GOH TAR-deh loh KWAHL meh moh-lehs-TOH
la calma
the quiet
lah KAHL-mah
interesarse por
to take an interest in
een-teh-reh-SAR-seh pohr
la idea
the idea
lah ee-DEH-ah
neutro
neutral (m)
NEHW-troh
yo pensaba lo mismo
I thought the same
yoh pehn-SAH-bah loh MEES-moh
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
La regla · The rule
When the thing you are pointing at is not a noun but a whole idea, Spanish uses lo: lo que me interesa es la música (what interests me is music). Lo cual points BACK at a whole clause: llegó tarde, lo cual me molestó — he arrived late, which annoyed me.
Y también · And also
Lo que opens; lo cual (or lo que, again) refers back. Both are neuter — no gender, no number — because an idea has neither. Interesarse por (to take an interest in) is the reflexive that goes with this page: me intereso por la historia.
Ojo · Watch out
lo que looks forward (lo que quiero); lo cual looks back at a whole clause (llegó tarde, lo cual me molestó). Both are neuter and never change. After a comma, lo cual is the careful written choice.
pensar, imperfecto — the table
yo pensaba · tú pensabas · él/ella/usted pensaba · nosotros pensábamos · ustedes pensaban · ellos/ellas pensaban
Do it now — on paper
Say all 9 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with lo que me interesa.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out pensar, imperfecto in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.