Solo and sólo

1 Solo Solo is an adjective with variation in gender and number; it is used with nouns or pronouns, and means sin compañía. Masculine Feminine Singular solo sola Plural solos solas Yo solo trabajo mejor; no me gusta que me molesten. (Él) está solo desde que murió su perro. If these masculine clauses may turn… Continue reading Solo and sólo

Sino and si no

1 Sino is an adversative conjunction and requires of a negation in the main clause. Introduce an affirmation after a negation. No es pequeño sino diminuto. No fui yo sino él. When a conjugated verb appears, the conjunction que is necesary too. No aprobó sino que suspendió. No fui yo sino que fue él. It… Continue reading Sino and si no

Que and qué

1 Que is a pronoun in relative or adjectival clauses. If que is a relative pronoun, it may be replaced by el cual, la cual, los cuales or las cuales. When que is a conjunction this replacement is not possible. See Passive sentences 2 Qué appears in interrogative and exclamatory clauses. See Exclamation Interrogation 3… Continue reading Que and qué

Punctuation

The Academia de la Lengua Española offers guidelines to punctuate a text. Many times, several options are offered to the same case. When punctuating a text, the coherence should lead; i.e. always keep the options taken in the same text. 1 Comma The comma usually shows a short pause in the clause. A comma is… Continue reading Punctuation

Accentuation

1 Most of thewords have one stressed syllable, but Spanish do not write accent mark on all of them.The accentuation mark depends on the number of syllables and on the word ending. 2 Palabras agudas, llanas, esdrújulas and sobresdrújulas words. Agudas: the stressed syllable is the last one: comedor, camión, balcón, comer, cantar, Canadá, cristal.… Continue reading Accentuation