"Tan sólo" - which "only" is it?

Question

Hola! I saw in the dictionary here that "tan sólo" means "only".

Does it mean "only" as in "I was the only one" or as in "I was going to, only I had to..."

Perhaps it works in both cases?

Welcome to the forum:) - 00494d19, Sep 17, 2010

Muchas gracias! - okiaji, Sep 17, 2010

Answer 1

Hi Okiaji

I believe 'tan sólo' is more emphatic than 'sólo', and can be translated as if only, just, even...

eg Me quedo tan sólo este viernes. I will be so lonely this Friday.

Si tan sólo pudiera hablar un minuto más con mi difunto padre. If only I could speak with my (deceased) father one more time...

Gracias, that makes sense. The other kind of "only" would drop the "tan" then and be simply "solo" if I understand you correctly. Or "único"... - okiaji, Sep 17, 2010

(Although I understand that there's a difference in use between sólo and único, much the same one as in swedish) - okiaji, Sep 17, 2010

Ehehe, like the difference between adjective and adverb -.-' - okiaji, Sep 17, 2010

Answer 2

I believe that I have offered an answer for this query previously but if it helps

• Sólo ( adverbio) unicamente = uniquely
• Solo (adjectivo) soledad = alone
• Sólo quiero estar solo = I only want to be alone (a more knowledgeable member of the forum assured me that this was a quotation from Greta Garbo. Should have remembered, its my era!)

There are 2 exceptions to the general rules governing Palabras diacríticas in spanish which are the words solo / sólo and aun / aún which are designated as Palabras independientes diacríticas

I thought that this might be useful if you were trying to understand the situation as set out in the RAE spanish dictionary.

It was, ¡gracias! - okiaji, Sep 27, 2010

Answer 3

Aside from the other use that you mention, "if only", "tan" can be translated as "so", to emphasize the meaning of "solo" or other words as in "tan rápido", "tan inesperado" => "so quick", "so unexpected"

e.g: "Me encuentro solo" => "I feel lonely"

"Me encuentro tan solo" , "I feel so lonely"

For the other meaning of "sólo" it works just the same, only that instead of "so" it would be translated as "just":

e.g: "Te estoy pidiendo un favor" => "I'm asking you for a favor"

"Tan solo te pido un favor" => "I'm just asking you for a favor"

The other example you wrote "I was going to, only I had to...", wouldn't be translated as "tan solo". That "only" is translated as "but": "Iba a hacerlo, pero tenía que.."

This explains a lot, thank you. It helps to understand english first :P I mean, that "only" is "but" in that sentence. - okiaji, Sep 27, 2010