Imperfect tense

7. NEGATIVES

The basic way to turn a sentence negative in Spanish is to place the word “no” before the verb:

No me llamo Ana. No tengo dinero. No hay mucha gente. No me gusta el invierno. No es importante.

The word no must always precede the verb. Never say things like “Es no importante”, “Tengo no dinero” o “Hay no cuarto de baño”

There are other negative words that you need to remember: nada – nothing (or “not anything”) nadie – nobody (or “not anybody”) ningún, ninguno, ninguna – no, none nunca, jamás, nunca jamás – never tampoco – neither, not either ni…ni – neither… not (or not either…or) ya no – not anymore, no longer Ejemplos: Nada me sorprende – Nothing surprises me Nadie me entiende – Nobody understands me Nunca jamás me histe caso – You never paid attention to me No me gusta el jamón tampoco – I don’t like ham either No tengo ni hermanos ni hermanas – I don’t have (n)either brothers (n)or sisters Ya no estudio alemán – I don’t study German anymore

The negative words above can precede the verb: Nunca llegas a tiempo – You are never on time They can also be placed after the verb, but when this is the case the word “no” is needed before the verb: No llegas nunca a tiempo – You are never on time

Double, triple and even quadruple negatives are perfectly normal in Spanish:

- No entiendo nada - No entiendo nunca nada - Yo no entiendo nunca nada tampoco