Spanish: An Essential Grammar

Solo

As an adjective, solois variable for number and gender, meaning: ‘alone’

and sometimes ‘mere’:

Andrea y Adela fueron solas a la fiesta.

Andrea and Adela went alone to the party.

La sola mención del asunto provocó una pelea.

The mere mention of the subject provoked a quarrel.

As an adverb solois invariable (equivalent in meaning to solamente ‘only’).

Although many writers still use it, the written accent on the adverbial form

sólois now only considered necessary when there is a danger of confusion

with solomeaning ‘alone’:

Solo me quedaban dos. I only had two left.

Notes:

1 Tanis used for emphasis before the adverbial form solo: Quedaban tan solo

cinco ejemplares‘There were only five copies left’.

2 A solasmeans ‘alone’: ¡Vamos a celebrarlo a solas!‘Let’s celebrate alone!’.

Demás

Preceded by the definite article with the meaning ‘the rest’, ‘the other(s)’,

demásis invariable both as adjective and pronoun:

Las demás (joyas) no valen nada.

The rest (of the jewels) are not worth anything.

The invariable neuter lo demásmeans ‘everything else’:

Los niños están a salvo, lo demás no me importa.

The children are safe, the rest does not matter.

9.14

9.13^1111

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1011

1

12111

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

20111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

30111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

40

41111

9

Indefinite
adjectives,
pronouns and
adverbs

94

Solo and único

The adjective solocannot be used to translate English ‘only’ if this

means ‘one and only’, as in ‘The only shop that sells it is Zara’.

Instead únicomust be used: La única tienda que lo vende es Zara.