Denial and double denial in Spanish can be expresed by differents ways.
Today our blog deals with negative sentences. Many of our students often have doubts about the use of denial and double denial in Spanish. Therefore, we have prepared an easy guide that will help you study Spanish.
Denial in Spanish
To express the negation in Spanish there are different ways.
- Thus, the most common is by prefixing the verb with the negative adverb no.
No quiero comer = I do not want to eat
- On the other hand, denial can be expressed through adverbs nunca, jamás, tampoco.
Nunca veo a Marta en clase = I never see Marta in class
Jamás cantaré una ranchera = I will never sing a ranchera
Jesús tampoco vive cerca = Jesus does not live near either
Also, we can use the undefined ones nadie, nada, ninguno.
Nadie habla con Carlos = Nobody talks to Carlos
Nada me parece normal hoy = Nothing seems normal to me today
Ninguno de nosotros ha estado en Valencia = None of us has been to Valencia
In the same way, the phrase is used in la/mi/tu/su vida and the groups that contain the word ni.
En mi vida haré daño a una persona = In my life I wuold hurt a person
Ni Pedro cree a tus mentiras = Neither Peter believes your lies - In addition, adverbs are used to express the negation nunca jamás and nunca más which are equivalent to más.
Nunca jamás volveré a hablar con Neus = I will never talk to Neus again
No voy a molestarte más = I will not bother you anymore - For the latter, we can express the denial by the verbs that imply it.
Niego a irme a vivir con alguien = I refuse to go live with someone
Double denial in Spanish
The Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) in defines a specific norm for negative phrases. In this way, it is allowed to combine the adverb NO with other elements that also have negative meaning. As you can see from the previous examples of the examples in case 2, if these elements are prefixed to the verb, this is not accompanied by the adverb of negation no. But if they are postponed to the verb, this must necessarily be preceded by the adverb no.
No voy nunca al cine = I never go to the cinema
No lo entiende nadie = Nobody understands it
No lo haré en mi vida = I will not do it in my life
Double No
That is to say, that the concurrence of these two “negations” does not annul the negative sense of the statement, but reinforces it. However, the repetition of the NO in double negation is equivalent to affirmation. This use is not considered advisable although it is grammatically correct.
No quiero no decir nada a José = I do not want to say anything to José
Así, es mejor usar la oración afirmativa:
Quiero decirlo a José = I want to say it to José
We hope our post will be helpful. Soon our Spanish school will publish more blogs about Spanish grammar and culture.
Happy Wednesday!
