A question about 'de'

[LearningSpanish]

I have just seen a correction, changing, 'no sabe lo que perdío' to 'no sabe 'de' lo que perdió' - is this correct and if you were explaining this grammatically why is the 'de' needed and what is the 'de'?

Can 'de' by itself be a conjunction or just a preposition?

So, if 'de' can be a conjunction, is the 'de' there because in Spanish the use of a conjunction is not optional, although it often is in English. And the 'que' of lo que doesn't count because 'lo que' is a complete phrase and is a relative pronoun rather than a conjunction?


or .... is it that 'de ... que' is the conjunction and the 'lo' just happens to be inbetween?

or .... more likely, is it ..... none of the above jeje

ayayay ... anyone?

[Perikles]

We need an expert, but meanwhile, I'm sure you are looking in the wrong direction for an explanation. The key is collocation of verb and preposition, and saber is linked with de sometimes.

Saber is (to me) very complicated with subtle variations that leave me baffled. Here is part of what my diccionary says:

saber2 [E25] verbo transitivo

A

1 ‹nombre/dirección/chiste/canción› to know; ..............; sabe mucho sobre la segunda guerra mundial he knows a lot about the Second World War
2 hacerle saber algo a alguien (formal): nos hizo saber su decisión he informed us of his decision; por la presente deseo hacerle saber que … …
3 (darse cuenta) to know; ¡tú no sabes lo que es esto! you can't imagine what it's like!; está furiosa, no sabes lo que te espera she's furious, you don't know what you're in for; perdónalos Señor, porque no saben lo que hacen (Biblia) forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do

B (ser capaz de) saber + inf: ¿sabes nadar/cocinar/escribir a máquina? can you swim/cook/type?; .....¿y tú dónde estabas, si se puede saber? and where were you, I'd like to know?


saber verbo intransitivo
Sentido I
A
1 to know; ¿crees que vendrá? — supongo que sí, aunque con ella nunca se sabe do you think she'll come? — I suppose so, although you never know o you can never tell with her; ...
2 saber de algo/alguien to know (of) something/somebody; yo sé de un sitio donde te lo pueden arreglar I know (of) a place where you can get it fixed; ¿sabes de alguien que haya estado allí? do you know (of) anyone who's been there?
3 (tener noticias) saber de alguien: no sé nada de ella desde hace más de un mes I haven't heard from her for over a month; no quiero saber nada más de él I want nothing more to do with him
B (enterarse) saber de algo: yo supe del accidente por la radio I heard about the accident on the radio; si llegas a saber de una cámara barata, avísame if you hear of a cheap camera, let me know



Note that saber and saber de have different uses, and according to the above in A3 transitive, the correction you saw was wrong.

EDIT you edited your post while I was typing.

[LearningSpanish]

Thank you Perikles, you could well be on to something

[aleCcowaN]

Context? (Tons of it!) Why this sort of questions are asked without a context?

All the following are possible, with -in some cases, very- different meanings:

no sabe lo que perdió
no sabe de lo que perdió
no sabe lo que se perdió
no sabe de lo que se perdió
no sabe la que perdió
no sabe de lo/la que perdió
no sabe de lo/la que perdió
no sabe la que se perdió
no sabe de la que se perdió

[LearningSpanish]

Sorry about the context, there wasn't much, as it was a question itself, about whether to use perder or perderse, what interested me was a correction that was given pointing out that a 'de' was needed.

So I was just trying to figure out why the 'de' is needed' or if it's optional and what effect does it have if it is optional.

This was the entire text given:

¿ No fuiste a la fiesta de la Noche Vieja?

No,pude, me invitaron a cenar unos amigos.

¿ No sabes lo que te perdiste! Fue muy interesante.

[aleCcowaN]

In my neck of the woods:

-No pude. Me invitaron a cenar unos amigos
-¡No sabés lo que te perdiste!
-¿Estuvo buena?
-Sí ... ¡Ah! ¡No sabés de lo que te salvaste!
-¿Qué?
-Fulano y Mengana se pelearon en medio de la fiesta y se arrojaron platos y todo.

[LearningSpanish]

Thanks, So would you say that the 'de' could be equivalent to the English 'on' when used with perderse. You don't know what you missed vs you don't know what you missed out on?

[aleCcowaN]

I don't know what that means

[LearningSpanish]

No worries, all good