Negative Sentences in Spanish – Lesson 51

Welcome to chapter 3!

Lesson 51: the very first lesson of chapter 3! I hope the first two chapters gave you a solid base, and I’m excited to keep going. We start with something you’ve already seen in lots of examples, but that deserves its own lesson: how to make negative sentences.

What is a negative sentence?

A negative sentence says that something is not the case. In English, you usually make a sentence negative with the word not:

• I did not eat today.
• I have not been to the gym.
• I did not give you my keys.

In Spanish: no

Spanish has its own word for this, and it’s an easy one: no.

These sentences use some past tenses we haven’t learned yet (comí = I ate, he ido = I have been, di = I gave). Don’t worry about those: just focus on where the no goes.

No goes before the verb

Here’s the most important rule: no always comes before the verb.

✅ Right	❌ Wrong
Hoy no comí.	Hoy comí no.
No he ido al gimnasio.	He ido no al gimnasio.
No te di mis llaves.	Te di no mis llaves.

In English, “not” often comes after a helper word: I have not, I did not. In Spanish it’s simpler: just put no in front. Literally, Spanish says “not I have been to the gym”.

And if there’s a little word like te (you) or lo (it) in front of the verb, no goes in front of that too: no te di, no lo sé. Remember no lo sé from lesson 43?

Spanish loves double negatives

Now the part that’s really different from English. In Spanish, you often use two negative words in one sentence, and that’s completely correct:

In English, “I don’t see nobody” sounds wrong (or means you do see somebody). In Spanish, it’s the normal way to say it. So where English uses anybody or anything, Spanish uses nadie (nobody) or nada (nothing).

The 4 most common negative words

Nadie: nobody

Literally “I don’t know to nobody here”. (In Latin America you’ll also hear acá instead of aquí.)

Nunca: never

With nunca you have two options. You can put nunca in front of the verb (then you don’t need no): nunca bebo café. That’s the most common and natural way. Or you can use the double negative: no bebo café nunca.

Nada: nothing

Literally “I don’t have nothing to do today”. Tener que means “to have to”, and tener … que hacer means “to have … to do”.

Ninguno: none, not any

Ninguno changes with the noun: ninguna for feminine words. And right before a masculine noun it gets shortened to ningún: ningún libro, ningún problema.

Recap: negative sentences

Spanish	English
no + verb	not
Hoy no comí.	I didn’t eat today.
No veo a nadie.	I don’t see anybody.
No necesito nada.	I don’t need anything.
nadie	nobody
■■■■■■■■	■■■■■■■■
■■■■■■■■	■■■■■■■■
■■■■■■■■	■■■■■■■■

+ 3 more words & phrases

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Practice: make it negative

Say it out loud first, then click to check.

1. Make it negative: Quiero un café.

No quiero un café.

2. Make it negative: Tengo hambre.

No tengo hambre.

3. Say “I don’t see anybody”.

No veo a nadie.

4. Say “I don’t need anything”.

No necesito nada.

5. Say “I never drink coffee”.

Nunca bebo café.

6. Say “I don’t know anybody here”.

No conozco a nadie aquí.

7. Say “No problem!” (literally: not any problem)

¡Ningún problema!

Quiz: negative sentences

8 questions. ¡No hay problema!

Frequently asked questions

Isn’t a double negative bad grammar?

In English, yes. In Spanish, no: it’s required! No veo a nadie is perfect Spanish, and veo a nadie would sound wrong.

How do I answer a question with “no”?

Often you say no twice: ¿Quieres un café? — No, no quiero café. The first no answers the question, the second makes the sentence negative.

Before you go to the next lesson

Practice by taking sentences you know and making them negative: quiero → no quiero, tengo → no tengo. And remember: in Spanish, double negatives are your friend! ¡Hasta la próxima!