guardarlo

Guardarlo is a Spanish verbal construct formed by the verb guardar in the infinitive followed by the clitic pronoun lo. The combination yields the meaning “to guard it” or “to keep it.” The form is widely used across contexts to express safeguarding, safekeeping, or storage, whether physical or digital.

Grammatical function and formation

As an infinitive with a clitic, guardarlo functions as a single verbal unit meaning “to guard it.” It can appear with auxiliary or supporting verbs to form periphrastic constructions, such as voy a guardarlo (I am going to guard it) or quiero guardarlo (I want to guard it). When a sentence uses a finite main verb, the pronoun may attach to the infinitive or be placed before the conjugated verb, yielding both lo voy a guardar and voy a guardarlo as acceptable options. The imperative forms also attach the pronoun: guárdalo (keep it). Accent marks may appear in stressed forms to preserve pronunciation, such as guárdalo.

Usage notes and nuance

Guardarlo covers a range of meanings from protecting someone or something to storing or saving an object or file. In computing, guardar is commonly translated as “to save,” so guardarlo means “to save it” (the file or data). In everyday language, the choice between colocating the pronoun before the conjugated verb or after the infinitive can depend on rhythm, emphasis, or formality, but both patterns are correct in standard Spanish.

Synonyms and related forms

Related terms include proteger, conservar, almacenar, archivar, and salvar, depending on context. The base verb guardar is versatile in both physical and digital domains, and guardarlo is its most typical clitic-inflected form for “to guard it.”