Expresiones Negativas y Afirmativas/ Negative and Affirmative Expressions

The most common way to make a sentence negative is to place no before the verb.

The English auxiliaries do and does are not used in Spanish.

EXAMPLES:

• Juan abre una cuenta bancaria./ Juan opens a checking account.
• Juan no abre la cuenta bancaria./ Juan does not open the checking account.

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Affirmative and negative expressions

Affirmative	Negative
algo/something alguien/someone alguno, -a/ someone, some siempre/ always alguna vez/ ever también/ also todavía, aún/ still ya/ already o/ or o…o/ either…or	nada/ nothing nadie/ no one ninguno, -a/ no one, none nunca/ never jamás/ never tampoco/ neither ya no/ no longer todavía no/ not yet ni/ nor ni…ni/ neither…nor
LESSONS: Advertising I Advertising Ia	LESSONS: Advertising III Advertising IIIa

NOTE: In Spanish, double negation is very common, as stated in the examples below.

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ALGO y NADA/ Something and nothing

Algo and nada are invariable and refer to things and objects.

EXAMPLES:

• Hay algo afuera./ There is something outside.
• No hay nada en el refrigerador./ There is nothing in the refrigerator.

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ALGUIEN y NADIE / Someone and no one

Alguien and nadie are invariable and refer to people. When alguien, nadie, alguno and ninguno are direct objects, they must be preceded by the personal a when they refer to a person.

EXAMPLES:

• Invité a alguien a salir./ I asked someone out.
• No defiendo a nadie./ I don't defend anybody.

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ALGUNO (someone or some) y NINGUNO (no one or none)

Alguno and ninguno can refer to people or things. Furthermore, alguno and ninguno drop the final -o before masculine singular nouns similarly, uno/one shortens to un, and bueno/ good to buen.

EXAMPLES:

• Algún día venderemos millones./ Some day we'll sell millions.
• Ningún producto está fallado./ None of the products is damaged.

 

NOTE: Ninguno is never used in a plural form.

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ALGUNA VEZ/ Ever

Alguna vez is equivalent to ever.

EXAMPLE:

• ¿Has diseñado alguna vez un logotipo?/ Have you ever designed a logo?

 

LESSONS: Advertising II & Advertising IIa

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THE USE OF MULTIPLE NEGATIVE:

1. Whenever the negative words nada, nadie, nunca, tampoco, jamás, follow the verb, no must precede the verb, which produces a multiple negative construction.

EXAMPLE:

• No como nunca espinaca./ I never eat spinach.

 

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2. The negative word can be placed at the end of the sentence.

EXAMPLE:

• No como espinaca nunca./ I never eat spinach.

 

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3. When the negative word precedes the verb, the word no is NOT used.

EXAMPLE:

• Nunca como espinaca./ I never eat spinach.

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DOUBLE NO

When the answer to a question is negative, the word no appears twice. It appears at the beginning of the sentence and also in front of the verb.

EXAMPLE:

• Juan: ¿Abren ahora?/ Are you going to open now?
• Clerk: No, no abrimos hasta las diez./ No, we don't open until ten.

 

NOTE: Usually the subject pronoun is omitted in the answer because the verb ending identifies the subject, as in the example above.

 

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NUNCA JAMÁS/ never again

Nunca jamás is one of the strongest negative forms that is equivalent to never ever or never again.

EXAMPLE:

• Nunca jamás ganarán./ They'll never ever win.

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NUNCA MÁS/ Never again

Nunca más is equivalent to never again.

EXAMPLE:

• Nunca más vi a Ana./ I have not seen Ana ever again

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JAMÁS/ Ever

Jamás is used as a superlative and is equivalent to ever.

EXAMPLE:

• Este projecto es el más intenso que jamás he empredido./ This project is the most intense that I have ever undertaken.

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TAMBIÉN/ Also or too

También expresses the union of two affirmative sentences. También means also or too.

EXAMPLES:

• Yo quiero comer; también ellos quieren comer./ I want to eat; they want to eat too.
• Nosotros también ganamos la competencia./ We also won the competition.

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TAMPOCO/ Neither

Tampoco means neither and is used to unite negative sentences.

EXAMPLE:

• Victoria no comió, y yo tampoco./ Victoria didn't eat and neither did I.

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NI/ Nor

Ni connects two negative constructions.

EXAMPLE:

• No quiero ni comer ni beber./ I don't want to eat or drink.

 

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Ni siquiera and sometimes ni are equivalent to not even.

EXAMPLES:

• Pedro ni siquiera me saludó./ Pedro did not even greet me.
• Pedro no quiere ni saludarme./ Pedro doesn't even want to greet me.

 

LESSONS: Advertising IV & Advertising IVa