Negation

How negation works in English

In English, negation is added with not (or the contraction n’t) placed after the auxiliary verb.

If there is no auxiliary verb, do/does/did is added as a support verb.

Statement	Negation	Method
She is here.	She is not / isn’t here.	not after auxiliary
He can come.	He cannot / can’t come.	not after modal
They are working.	They are not / aren’t working.	not after auxiliary
She eats rice.	She does not / doesn’t eat rice.	do-support + not
He works here.	He does not / doesn’t work here.	do-support + not
They left early.	They did not / didn’t leave early.	do-support + not
I have a plan.	I do not / don’t have a plan.	do-support + not
We need help.	We do not / don’t need help.	do-support + not
She called me.	She did not / didn’t call me.	do-support + not
You want coffee.	You do not / don’t want coffee.	do-support + not

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Double negatives in English

In standard English, double negatives cancel out and are considered incorrect:

• I don’t know nothing. → considered non-standard / incorrect

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How Spanish handles negation differently

Key difference: no goes directly before the verb

Spanish negation is simpler than English — no do-support needed. Just put no before the verb.

Structure: Subject + no + verb (+ rest of sentence)

Statement	Negation	English
Ella come arroz.	Ella no come arroz.	She doesn’t eat rice.
Él trabaja aquí.	Él no trabaja aquí.	He doesn’t work here.
Yo sé la respuesta.	Yo no sé la respuesta.	I don’t know the answer.
Tú hablas español.	Tú no hablas español.	You don’t speak Spanish.
Ellos llegaron ayer.	Ellos no llegaron ayer.	They didn’t arrive yesterday.
Ella es doctora.	Ella no es doctora.	She isn’t a doctor.
Yo tengo tiempo.	Yo no tengo tiempo.	I don’t have time.
Nosotros entendemos.	Nosotros no entendemos.	We don’t understand.
Él puede venir.	Él no puede venir.	He can’t come.
Tú estás bien.	Tú no estás bien.	You’re not okay.

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Affirmative and negative word pairs

Several Spanish indefinite words come in affirmative/negative pairs — every affirmative word below has exactly one negative partner:

Affirmative	Negative	English
algo	nada	something / anything → nothing
alguien	nadie	someone / anyone → no one / nobody
algún / alguno(a/os/as)	ningún / ninguno(a)	some / any → none / not any
siempre	nunca / jamás	always → never
también	tampoco	also / too → neither / not either
o…o	ni…ni	either…or → neither…nor

alguno and ninguno shorten to algún / ningún right before a masculine singular noun (algún libro, not alguno libro) — the same shortening pattern as uno → un.
ninguno/a almost always stays singular, even where English uses a plural: No tengo ningún amigo aquí = “I have no friends here,” not “no friend.”

Affirmative vs. negative examples

Affirmative	Negative	English
Tengo algo para ti.	No tengo nada para ti.	I have something / nothing for you.
Vino alguien.	No vino nadie.	Someone came. / No one came.
Hay algún problema.	No hay ningún problema.	There’s some problem. / There’s no problem.
Siempre llega tarde.	Nunca llega tarde.	He always arrives late. / He never arrives late.
Yo también quiero ir.	Yo tampoco quiero ir.	I also want to go. / I don’t want to go either.
Quiero o café o té.	No quiero ni café ni té.	I want either coffee or tea. / I want neither coffee nor tea.
Veo a alguien.	No veo a nadie.	I see someone. / I see no one.
Siempre trabaja duro.	Jamás trabaja duro.	He always works hard. / He never works hard.
Tengo alguna duda.	No tengo ninguna duda.	I have some doubt. / I have no doubt.
También lo conozco.	Tampoco lo conozco.	I also know him. / I don’t know him either.

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Double negatives are required in Spanish

This is the opposite of English. In Spanish, if you use a negative word (nothing, nobody, never), you must also use no before the verb — that’s what makes the pairs above “negative words” rather than plain vocabulary.

Double negative examples

Spanish	Word-by-word	English
No sé nada.	not I-know nothing	I don’t know anything.
No hay nadie aquí.	not there-is nobody here	There’s nobody here.
No lo hago nunca.	not it I-do never	I never do it.
No tengo ningún plan.	not I-have no plan	I don’t have any plan.
No me gusta tampoco.	not me it-pleases neither	I don’t like it either.
No quiero ni café ni té.	not I-want neither coffee nor tea	I want neither coffee nor tea.
No habla nadie.	not speaks nobody	Nobody is speaking.
No compré nada.	not I-bought nothing	I didn’t buy anything.
No vino nunca.	not came never	He never came.
No tiene ninguna idea.	not has no idea	He has no idea.

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Negative words can go before the verb (no no needed then)

If the negative word comes before the verb, you don’t need no.

With no (negative word after verb)	Without no (negative word before verb)	English
No sé nada.	Nada sé.	I know nothing.
No viene nadie.	Nadie viene.	Nobody is coming.
No lo hago nunca.	Nunca lo hago.	I never do it.
No tengo ningún plan.	Ningún plan tengo.	I have no plan.
No trabaja nadie los domingos.	Nadie trabaja los domingos.	Nobody works on Sundays.
No viajo nunca en avión.	Nunca viajo en avión.	I never travel by plane.
No entiendo nada.	Nada entiendo.	I understand nothing.
No dijo nada sobre el tema.	Nada dijo sobre el tema.	He said nothing about it.
No come jamás carne.	Jamás come carne.	He never eats meat.
No vino nadie a la fiesta.	Nadie vino a la fiesta.	Nobody came to the party.

Both forms are correct. The no + verb + negative-word pattern is far more common in everyday speech.

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Negating with pronouns

When the sentence has an object pronoun, no goes before the pronoun (which sits before the verb).

Statement	Negation	English
Lo veo.	No lo veo.	I don’t see him/it.
Te llamo.	No te llamo.	I won’t call you.
La compro.	No la compro.	I won’t buy it.
Nos invitan.	No nos invitan.	They don’t invite us.
Os veo.	No os veo.	I don’t see you all.
Se lo digo.	No se lo digo.	I won’t tell him/her.
Me escuchas.	No me escuchas.	You don’t listen to me.
Los buscan.	No los buscan.	They aren’t looking for them
Las vendes.	No las vendes.	You don’t sell them.
Le respondo.	No le respondo.	I don’t answer him/her.

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Don’t mix affirmative and negative words

Once a clause is negative, every indefinite word in it must be from the negative column of the pairs table above — you can’t reach for algo, alguien, algún, siempre, or también inside a clause that already has no (or another negative word).

❌ Mixed (wrong)	✅ All-negative (correct)	English
No veo algo.	No veo nada.	I don’t see anything.
No conozco a alguien aquí.	No conozco a nadie aquí.	I don’t know anyone here.
No tengo algún plan.	No tengo ningún plan.	I don’t have any plan.
Yo también no quiero ir.	Yo tampoco quiero ir.	I don’t want to go either.
No siempre viene. (as “he never comes”)	Nunca viene.	He never comes.
No encontré algo.	No encontré nada.	I didn’t find anything.
No llamó alguien.	No llamó nadie.	Nobody called.
No hay algunos euros.	No hay ningún euro.	There are no euros.
Él también no estudia.	Él tampoco estudia.	He doesn’t study either.
No como algo por la mañana.	No como nada por la mañana.	I don’t eat anything in the morning.

The last row isn’t a mixing error — no siempre viene is grammatical, but it means “he doesn’t always come” (occasional), not “he never comes.” Reach for nunca when you mean “never,” not no + siempre.

This is the flip side of “double negatives are required”: Spanish negation must stay consistent across the clause — all-affirmative or all-negative, never a mix of the two.

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Common mistakes

• ❌ Ella no come no arroz. → ✅ Ella no come arroz. — only one no for a simple negative
• ❌ No sé nada. thinking it’s a double negative error → ✅ this is correct in Spanish; double negatives are required
• ❌ Nunca no lo hago. → ✅ No lo hago nunca. OR Nunca lo hago. — not both
• ❌ No veo algo. (mixing negative no with affirmative algo) → ✅ No veo nada.
• ❌ Placing no after the verb → ✅ no always goes before the verb

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Summary

• Place no directly before the verb — no do-support needed
• Every affirmative word has a negative partner: algo/nada, alguien/nadie, algún/ningún, siempre/nunca, también/tampoco, o...o/ni...ni
• Negative words (nada, nadie, nunca, etc.) require no before the verb when they follow it
• If a negative word comes before the verb, no is dropped
• Don’t mix columns: once a clause is negative, every indefinite word in it must be negative too (no + nada, never no + algo)
• With pronouns: no + pronoun + verb

See also: Questions — combining negation with question words.
See also: Basic Syntax — word order fundamentals.