How to Say "I Found It" in Spanish

lo encontré

/lo enkontɾe/from spelling rules

The English phrase "I found it" is translated into Spanish as lo encontré.

lo encontré means I found it in the masculine singular form. If you are referring to a feminine singular object, you should use la encontré.

What does it mean word for word?

The phrase is composed of the direct object pronoun lo (it/him) and the first-person singular preterite form of the verb encontrar (to find).

Use la encontré if the object is feminine singular, and las encontré to say "I found them" for feminine objects.

/lo enkontɾe/

While encontrar means 'to find', adding a reflexive pronoun creates encontrarse, which can mean 'to feel' or 'to be in a certain state' emotionally or physically.
In some Spanish dialects, people use the reflexive form me lo encontré to imply that the discovery was a complete accident or a surprise.
The word lo has evolved from a Latin demonstrative meaning 'that one', which is why it carries such a specific sense of pointing out a particular object found.

Lo encontré en el ático.
I found it in the attic.
This sentence is useful for describing where the object was located using lo encontré.
Tatoeba #4392370 by pchamorro, translation #2327214 by CK
Lo encontré en la calle.
I found it on the street.
Tatoeba #6076472 by JRB, translation #3330172 by CK
Lo encontré mientras limpiaba.
I found it while I was cleaning up.
This sentence is useful for describing an action occurring during a task using lo encontré.
Tatoeba #13464009 by Seael, translation #2327215 by CK
7 more sentences on Tatoeba

Mateo is looking for his wallet and Sofía finds it.

Sources

IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
Word origins: Wiktionary entries lo, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.

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