Answers
Jun 26, 2014 - 08:40 AM
Hi Banjolover47
That's a very interesting question. In general you are right that "solo" would go just before the part of the sentence it is referring to. So let's take your 3 examples. In the first one:
Only (you) must sign this form. Your wife does not need to sign it.
First of all, in order to make the emphasis you would add the subject pronoun "Usted" (or "tu" if you are on very familiar terms with the clerk) here and then place the "solo" just before it. So it would be:
Solo usted debe firmar este formulario
So "solo" would be at the beginning of the sentence but just before the subject pronoun it's referring to.
In the third example:
(You) must sign only this form. You do not need to sign the other two
You would again place the "solo" before the part it's referring to: "este formulario", to emphasise it:
Debe firmar solo este formulario
Now in your last example:
(You) must only sign this form here, in order to open your account
You want to qualify the verb with "solo". But in Spanish we tend to avoid splitting up the verbs (think of: "lo quiero probar" instead of "quiero lo probar") so we put the solo before the entire verb structure:
Solo debe firmar este formulario
I hope this helps.
That's a very interesting question. In general you are right that "solo" would go just before the part of the sentence it is referring to. So let's take your 3 examples. In the first one:
Only (you) must sign this form. Your wife does not need to sign it.
First of all, in order to make the emphasis you would add the subject pronoun "Usted" (or "tu" if you are on very familiar terms with the clerk) here and then place the "solo" just before it. So it would be:
Solo usted debe firmar este formulario
So "solo" would be at the beginning of the sentence but just before the subject pronoun it's referring to.
In the third example:
(You) must sign only this form. You do not need to sign the other two
You would again place the "solo" before the part it's referring to: "este formulario", to emphasise it:
Debe firmar solo este formulario
Now in your last example:
(You) must only sign this form here, in order to open your account
You want to qualify the verb with "solo". But in Spanish we tend to avoid splitting up the verbs (think of: "lo quiero probar" instead of "quiero lo probar") so we put the solo before the entire verb structure:
Solo debe firmar este formulario
I hope this helps.
Jun 26, 2014 - 02:41 PM
Thank you. Excellent explanation, and worth waiting for!
Jun 26, 2014 - 05:53 PM
Banjolover asks good questions and this was one of his best. I too was waiting for the answer and found the one provided easy to understand. Thanks for the question and thanks for the answer. It got a helpful vote from me.