Spanish Negation & Negative Pronouns

To make a sentence negative, place the word "no" before the verb (i.e. no me gusta = I don't like... no estoy en casa = I am not at home.). When the answer to a question is negative, the word "no" appears twice.

quieres pizza? do you want pizza?	no, no quiero pizza no, I don't want pizza
vas a ir? are you going to go?	no, no voy a ir no, I am not going to go

Here are the key Spanish negatives:

ninguno /a/os/as	none, not any
nadie	no one, nobody
nada	nothing, not anything
tampoco	neither, not either
nunca	never
ni	neither, nor

These negative words can be used along with the word "NO", or alone, placed before the verb.

Nadie lo tiene	No one has it
No vi a nadie	I didn't see anyone

Nada va a pasar	Nothing is going to happen
No hay nada en el cuarto	There's nothing in the room

Ninguno de los niños está aquí	None of the children are here
No comí ninguna de la sopa	I didn't eat any of the soup

You'll notice that ninguno changes to agree with the noun:

	singular	plural
masculine	ninguno	ningunos
feminine	ninguna	ningunas

Alguno and ninguno drop the -o before a masculine singular noun.

¿Tienes algún libro?
No, no tengo ningún libro.

Ninguno/ninguna is usually used in the singular form.

¿Tienes algunas sillas?
No, no tengo ninguna.

¿Hay algunos cuartos disponibles?
No, no hay ninguno.

Worksheet: Spanish Negatives

Quiz: Negative Pronouns

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