Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyrn
An example from a textbook:
Dudaba que fueses bonita: ahora ya sé que lo eres.
Why lo, not la?
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The object pronouns "la", "los" and "las" ALWAYS refer to something that is identified explicitly or implicitly by a noun with the same gender and number.
The object pronoun "lo" does double duty:
a. "Lo" can refer to anything that is identified explicitly or implicitly by a masculine singular noun. In this case, "lo" is a masculine singular pronoun.
b. "Lo" can refer to any concept, idea, or phrase that is not or that cannot easily be identified by a specific noun. In this case, "lo" is a neuter pronoun.
In your sentence "(que) fueses "bonita" is not a noun: it's a verb phrase that expresses a concept, and verb phrases do not have either gender or number. As there is no noun that exactly represents that concept expressed by "(que) fueses bonita", the only object pronoun that can refer to "(que) fueses bonita" is "lo" in its capacity as a neuter pronoun.