Tan solo lleva tilde

Alone or alone

The easiest way to see when it is an adjective is to put the phrase in feminine, if the “solo” changes to “sola”, it is an adjective. Another thing is the tilde, if it is an adjective it never has it, if it is an adverb it has it in case the phrase with adjective makes sense.

Jellby said: “Another thing is the tilde, if it is an adjective it never carries it, if it is an adverb it carries it in case the sentence with an adjective makes sense”, although it is not exactly like that, if the adverb is very clear it does not need a tilde, but it can carry it.

Jellby said: “Another thing is the tilde, if it is an adjective it never has it, if it is an adverb it has it in case the sentence with an adjective makes sense”, although it is not exactly like that, if the adverb is understood very clearly it does not need a tilde, but it can have it.

No solo

As it has already been said, solo=solamente does not have to be accented (new rules of the RAE, before it was necessary to put it), unless it is not very clear if it is the same as “solamente” or “sin acompanía”, which is precisely the case of “tan solo”. If with the rest of the sentence the meaning is well understood, don’t put it, if there is any doubt, it is better to put it.

As it has already been said, solo=solamente does not have to be accented (new rules of the RAE, before it was necessary to put it), unless it is not very clear if it is the same as “solamente” or “sin acompanía”, which is precisely the case of “tan solo”. If with the rest of the sentence the meaning is well understood, do not use it, if there is any doubt, it is better to use it.

If someone writes the sentence: “Si solo fueras más amable”. Do I add the accent if it does not have one? Do I remove the accent if it does have one? It happens that I am doing literary corrections and I am not sure if it has an accent or not. I don’t want to remove the accent if it is correct, and I don’t want to add it if it is not correct.

Adjective or adverb only

So, does it make no difference whether you put an accent or not? Well, no: you can choose not to put an accent on “solo” used as an adverb, and it would be correct, but you should never accentuate “solo” used as an adjective or noun and, above all, you must be consistent: if you write a text and the word “solo” (used as an adverb) appears several times, you must follow the same criteria at all times, so that you can say that you are following a single rule. Not respecting coherence, although not punishable from an orthographic point of view, detracts from the quality of the text.

To give an example, in a sentence such as “solo quien está solo juega al solo”, a tilde can be used on the first “solo”, or not at all. But the other two “only” should never be accented. And if, subsequently, “solo” is written again with the sense of “only”, the form of writing chosen the first time must be respected.

It has the accent solo

The easiest way to see when it is an adjective is to put the phrase in feminine, if the “solo” changes to “sola”, it is an adjective. Another thing is the accent mark, if it is an adjective it never carries it, if it is an adverb it carries it in case the phrase with adjective makes sense.