Lesson 48. I've got it: lo tengo

Lo, la, los, las

To avoid repeating something you’ve already mentioned, replace it with a short word, like English it or them. In Spanish it agrees with the noun in gender and number:

	Singular	Plural
masc.	lo (el billete)	los (los zapatos)
fem.	la (la maleta)	las (las gafas)

• ¿Tienes el billete? — Sí, lo tengo.
• ¿Las gafas? — No las encuentro.

Where it goes

Before the conjugated verb, including after no: Lo tengo. No las encuentro. Note that this is the opposite of English I have it.

With an infinitive you have two options, both correct:

• Voy a comprarlo. — attached to the end of the infinitive;
• Lo voy a comprar. — before the whole phrase.

Words in this lesson

El billete is a ticket for a train, bus or plane; la entrada is a ticket for the movies, a concert or a museum. In some Latin American countries people say boleto instead of billete.

Las gafas is plural: las gafas → las. El paraguas is singular even though it ends in -s: el paraguas → lo.

Encontrar changes its vowel like poder: encuentro, encuentras.

For recognition

For a man, you may hear Le veo mañana (“I’ll see him tomorrow”) in parts of Spain. Here le has the same direct-object role as lo; lesson 49 introduces its other role, “to him / to her.” In this lesson we practice lo / la for things.