La vas a pasar muy bien

Question

en el texto.... Si nunca visitaste México, hacelo en estas fechas. Creo que la vas a pasar muy bien...questions1.  hacelo .. here does ´lo´  refer to ´viaje´ or something else ? 2. Shouldn´t it be ´hazlo´ instead of ´hacelo´3. .. la vas a pasar..    what is ´la´ referring to?   Don´t we usually say ´lo pasar bien´?gracias como siempre

Accepted Answer

Hola Iris (y John)
The text, as you can see in the intro, is narrated by an Argentinian lady, where they have a distinctive accent and also use another pronoun "vos", as tú. This is why you find things a little bit different to the European Spanish.
1. the "lo" in hacelo does refer to "visiting Mexico", (= the trip) 
2. it says "hacelo" correctly, because "hacé" is the imperative affirmative for "vos" in Argentina (it looses the accent when combined with lo: hacelo) - if you click here, and you scroll down to the imperative forms, you'll see that the table includs the "vos" form.
We don't include "vos" in our conjugation lessons because it is very limited to Argentina/Uruguay, but it is something planned for the future. We do have a bit of information here about the "voseo" though. 
3. the "la" in "la vas a pasar" is the same as "lo vas a pasar" but in Latin America, this is used with "la" instead of "lo". 
So, all these little differences are there because the narrator, being from Argentina, would not use them any other way. 
I hope this clarified it. 
Saludos cordiales.
Inma

Answer

Hola Iris,

As I understand “lo” in the sentence “ Si nunca visitaste en México, hacelo en estas fechas,” translates as “If you never visited Mexico, do it on these dates,” with lo referring to making a visit. Personally I think it would be better grammar to say “Si nunca has visitado México….” using the pretérito perfecto,” but perhaps this is typical of Latinoamérica?

You suggest “haz,” the imperative form of hacer as an alternative. I’m sure that could work if you really wanted to communicate a sense of urgency and enthusiasm like “[you’ve just got to] do it on these dates,” but really the imperative is about giving a direct command requiring action, and in the context of this article the intention is more discursive; hence the present tense.

Regarding the phrase “Creo que la vas a pasar muy bien,” you also have an option to write this as “vas a pasarla muy bien.” There is a “stand-alone” verbal locution “pasarlo bien” which specifically means “to have a good / great time.” In this case I think the “la” refers to the feminine “una visita” - a visit. If it were referring to something neutral or masculine, you would use “lo;’ e.g. “Ven a mi cumpleaños, lo pasaremos bien.”

Espero que te ayudes. Saludos. John