You can say todavía no or no…todavía, and you normally start a sentence with one word in this pair. It means not yet, but it works a little differently in Spanish. (My neighbors are neither nice nor helpful.) Todavía no Mis vecinos no son amables ni tampoco serviciales. Notice that you can use no…ni together with tampoco in order to intensify the negation: It operates in opposition to también (too/as well) as its negative counterpart.ĭon’t make the common mistake of saying también no instead of using tampoco! Tampoco means also not/not either/neither and even too, when too is needed in a negative context. (Don’t even touch me! – Much stronger than ¡No me toques! (He opened the door and didn’t say a word.) I prefer drinking water.)Ībrió la puerta y no dijo ni una palabra. Ni normally works in pairs, but you can also see the combinations no…ni…ni, no…ni and even one ni by itself. If you want more emphasis you can even use them together in a sentence: (I would have never thought you would become president. Jamás pensé que llegarías a ser presidente. (I had never in my life seen such a handsome guy.) Nunca había visto a un chico tan guapo en mi vida. They can be used interchangeably, but jamás seems to be a little more emphatic than nunca: We normally use ningún plus a singular name in order to refer to a whole group. Notice that ningunos, as shown in the second example, is less and less used in everyday Spanish. Here you have some examples with the other three “siblings”: While ningún will always be followed by a masculine noun, ninguno will always be a pronoun and won’t have any accompanying nouns right after it. Ningún and ninguno mean the same, but they’re used in different contexts. Meaning none/any/anyone, these negative words (except for ningún and ninguno) can function both as adjectives and as pronouns, depending on whether they’re followed by a noun or not, respectively. (Nobody knows more than you do.) Ningún/-o/-a/-os/-as (My sister didn’t invite anybody to her wedding.) It means no one/nobody, and it’s (obviously) used when talking about people! (I don’t like anything more than going for a walk in the rain.) Nadie Nada me gusta más que dar un paseo bajo la lluvia. (I don’t feel like doing anything today.) Nada means nothing/anything, and it’s also very common in Spanish negative sentences. Maybe that’s why we Spaniards prefer to say just no. ![]() You can’t use an auxiliary verb as you do in English (e.g. In the last example, notice the use of no twice followed by the main verb. (Do you want to go shopping? No, I don’t!) ![]() Undoubtedly the most important negation word in any language, no is commonly used to negate the verb and you can use it to answer questions just by itself. There are many negation words in Spanish, but for the sake of space and time, I’ll show you the most important ones. (Nothing can I do.) Main Spanish Negation WordsĮvery language has its ways of making negations. Remember that you can’t use no if you’ve started the statement with another negative word! You can always start a sentence with a negative word (even besides no), as long as it’s always preceding the verb. There’s no need for making inversions or adding auxiliary verbs. We can start a sentence with a negative word (literally, I don’t run never → I never run.) You can get to know more about double negation in Spanish a few paragraphs below. So if you just remember to add no in front of the verb, you can say you’ve mastered 75 percent of Spanish negation!Įnglish doesn’t like double negation, but Spanish allows for it. ¿Te acuerdas de Michael? (Do you remember Michael?) → ¿ No te acuerdas de Michael? ¿Te apetecería venir? (Would you like to come?) → ¿ No te apetecería venir? (My neighbors haven’t brought any presents.) (My neighbors have brought presents.) → Mis vecinos no han traído regalos. (We want to go to the cinema.) → No queremos ir al cine. When transforming an affirmative sentence into a negative one, just add noin front of the verb: I’m talking of course about simple sentences and simple negation. Negation isn’t an exception, and there are a couple of things you should take into account when studying la negación en español (negation in Spanish). (Download) The Basics of Spanish NegationĮnglish and Spanish share a lot of rules, but more often than not it’s their differences that stand out between them. This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that youĬlick here to get a copy. ![]() Let’s get into the art of Spanish negation. Plus, you’ll learn how to use double, triple and even quadruple negations! In this post, you’ll find a list of the most important negation words in Spanish along with plenty of examples in context. Yes, that’s a double negative in Spanish, and it’s grammatically correct!Ĭreating negative sentences is an important skill to have in any language, and one you’ll likely use daily. JSpanish Negation: How to Master Negative Sentences for Any Scenario
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