Master Your Spanish Grammar with Manu Chao

The word solo has a couple of different meanings. It's most popular uses include: Just, alone, merely, solely, and on one's own.

All pretty similar, right?

 

The tricky aspect about the word however, comes when you're writing it:

 

While you may see solo written with as sólo, don’t worry about putting an accent when you’re writing in Spanish. In 2010, La Real Academia Española (RAE), the big dawg authority when it comes to Spanish grammar, stated that in all cases, solo would be correct if used without an accent - only if used as an adverb could it be written with an accent, but in any other case, it would be wrong if used with un acento.

Luckily for us, our pal Manu Chao can help us out with his song Clandestino.

In the first line of the song, Manu sings:

Solo voy con mi pena - Translation: Alone I go with my sadness
Sola va mi condena - Translation: Alone goes my sentence

When you're writing in Spanish, just think back to Manu Chao's song and remember that in order to avoid any grammar condenas you should play it safe and write solo without an accent.

See? Spanish grammar can (sometimes) be easy! Solo repasa a little bit more and you'll be speaking like a pro in no time 🤘