Para saber qué pasó después...

"To know what happened afterwards..."

I am forever wanting to put a "lo que" in there. What is the rule for this? I remember there is a RS lesson on "lo que", "lo cual", etc. but I don't remember seeing the explanation for "que" vs "lo que".
 

I can't answer your question Steven, but I can commiserate. I remember the RS lesson on lo que, lo cual, etc, but I also remember that it said you could not know how to use it in spoken language and get along just fine. So I did the lesson but haven't worried too much about knowing when to use it yet, just noticing when I see it used. Occasionally some of the native speakers I talk with correct me by telling me a lo belongs in the sentence, so I suppose at some point it will start to make sense. Also, my tutor mentioned a couple of weeks ago that lo has a function in the subjunctive, but since I am not at that point yet it didn't really click for me.

My favorite Spanish language cooking show ends each segment by summarizing the steps needed to make the dish, captioned as "paso a paso."...step by step. I think that is a good way for me to think about learning Spanish: paso a paso, and eventually the dish will taste (sound) right.

So you don't use enough "lo"'s and I use too many. We have found balance here at Rocket Spanish. :-)

I remember the lesson you're referring to. One example: "The tent, that which you bring every year, is old and dirty." Indeed, it would suffice to recognize these constructions as we could say the same thing in a simpler way. One use of "lo que" that I found that is pretty important though is when it starts a sentence:
- Lo que no entiendo... - What I don't understand...
- Lo que yo quiero ver - What I want to see...