Spanish Negation: no, nunca, nada, nadie

Short answer

No goes straight before the verb. Spanish uses double negatives as standard: no veo nada, no viene nadie. If the negative word comes before the verb, no disappears: nunca viene.

Level A1 · negation

The rule in full

Put no directly before the verb:

  • No hablo francés.
  • No lo conozco. (before the object pronoun too)

Double negatives are correct in Spanish. If a negative word comes after the verb, you still need no:

With noWithout no
No veo nada.Nada veo.
No viene nadie.Nadie viene.
No voy nunca.Nunca voy.

Other negatives: ninguno/a, tampoco (neither), ni… ni (neither… nor).

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