# 35. How Negatives Work

- **Time range:** 02:39:27 – 02:43:50  (duration 00:04:23)
- **Source:** [A Complete Guide To Every Fundamental In Spanish (The Conclusion)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=YHDZSHCt1DE&t=9567s)

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**[02:39:27]** many negative forms in Spanish that sometimes work similarly to English and sometimes don't in this video I'd like to explain how negatives work in the language starting from basic words and sentences all the way to how they use them properly first there are some

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> Indefinite: Negative:

**[02:39:39]** indefinite and negative words you should know in Spanish like these ones these

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> Indefinite: Negative: algo - something nada - nothing alguien - someone nadie - no one algun/o/a(s) - any ningun/o/a(s) - not any siempre - always nunca - never también - also tampoco - neither These words refer to people and things but NOT specifically

**[02:39:42]** words refer to people and things but not specifically algo means means something alen means someone alun means any and it's the only word that has gender and

> **[on-screen 02:39:50]**
> Indefinite: Negative: algo - something nada - nothing alguien - someone nadie - no one algun/o/a(s) - any ningun/o/a(s) - not any siempre - always nunca - never también - also tampoco - neither These words refer to people and things but NOT specifically

**[02:39:51]** plurality along with the negative version too c means always anden means

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> Indefinite: Negative: algo - something nada - nothing alguien - someone nadie - no one algun/o/a(s) - any ningun/o/a(s) - not any siempre - always nunca - never también - also tampoco - neither These words refer to people and things but NOT specifically

**[02:39:56]** also the negative words are NADA meaning nothing NAD meaning no one ningun meaning not any Nuna meaning never and TCO meaning neither even though I will not use all of these words they're still very useful to know at first in English we can have simple sentences with negatives like I do not speak French or

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> In English: | do not speak French He does not speak Italian

**[02:40:13]** he does not speak Italian in Spanish we have to use the word no by placing it

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> In English: | do not speak French He does not speak Italian ate)

**[02:40:17]** before a verb

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> In Spanish: | do not speak French He does not speak Italian Yo no hablo francés El no habla italiano

**[02:40:23]** and the response is negative the use of two negative words can be used like asking can you come today v o if the

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> In Spanish: Can you come today? éPuedes venir hoy?

**[02:40:29]** response is negative I can say no I

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> In Spanish: Can you come today? éPuedes venir hoy? No, I can not come today

**[02:40:32]** cannot come today with two negatives in

> **[on-screen 02:40:33]**
> In Spanish: Can you come today? éPuedes venir hoy? No, | can not come today

**[02:40:34]** the sentence in Spanish the idea works the same way if the response is negative I can say no y no comparing the phrase

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> In Spanish: Can you come today? éPuedes venir hoy? No, I can not come today No, yo no puedo venir hoy

**[02:40:41]** to English the only difference is that

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> In Spanish: Can you come today? éPuedes venir hoy? No, | can not come today No, yo no puedo venir hoy

**[02:40:42]** the word not is placed after can but no is is placed before PUO because Spanish places negatives before verbs all the time we can also ask something like did you go to the store and the answer can

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> Did you go to the store?

**[02:40:52]** be no I did not go to the store in

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> Did you go to the store? No, | did not go to the store

**[02:40:54]** Spanish the idea works the same

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> Did you go to the store? No, | did not go to the store éFuiste a la tienda? No, yo no fui a la tienda

**[02:40:59]** no as always you can make any sentence you want using simple negatives in Spanish but it doesn't stop here negative words can be used in many different ways in Spanish as opposed to English in English you can say things

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> In English: Nobody eats She never runs

**[02:41:10]** like nobody eats and she never runs and in Spanish there are many ways you can change these sentences you can

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> In English: Nobody eats > Nadie come She never runs > Ella nunca corre

**[02:41:17]** say which is visually more logical but unlike English Spanish can contain two

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> In English: Nobody eats > Nadie come She never runs > Ella nunca corre Unlike English, Spanish can contain two or more negative words

**[02:41:21]** or more negative words especially when a sentence begins with a negative idea with the full sentence being negative I

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> | do not eat anything

**[02:41:27]** can say I do not eat anything with the word not before eat and with the word anything being indefinite in the sentence in Spanish the sentence would

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> | do not eat anything Yo no como nada

**[02:41:35]** be Y no meaning I do not eat anything but as you can see Spanish has a double negative with the word NADA which means

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> | do not eat anything Yo no como nada (nothing)

**[02:41:42]** nothing the sentence would visually be I do not eat nothing even though the sentence makes sense in Spanish it doesn't make sense in English because English doesn't allow double negatives nonetheless that's how negatives work in Spanish and we can make any sentence we want how would you say the sentence I do

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> | do not see anything

**[02:41:56]** not see anything in Spanish Y noada how

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> | do not see anything Yo no veo nada

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> You never eat anything

**[02:41:59]** would you say you never eat

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> You never eat anything Tu nunca comes nada

**[02:42:02]** anything how would you say he does not

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> He does not know anything El no sabe nada

**[02:42:05]** anything that's how negatives work in Spanish at last there are two concepts that need more explanation involving alen and NAD meaning someone and no one

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> alguien - someone nadie - no one algun/o/a(s) - any ningun/o/a(s) - not any

**[02:42:14]** and alun and meaning any or not any because they indicate people alen and N have to use

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> alguien - someone nadie - no one When speaking about people, alguien & nadie have to use the personal a which is used before the words

**[02:42:20]** the personal a which is used before the words for instance I can ask did you see

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> Did you see someone?

**[02:42:24]** someone and you can reply with no I did

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> Did you see someone? No, I did not see someone

**[02:42:26]** not see someone in Spanish whenever you ask about people you will have to include the personal a like saying V and you can reply with no Y and as you can

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> éViste a alguien? No, yo no via nadie

**[02:42:36]** see the personal a is placed both in the

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> éViste a alguien? No, yo no via nadie

**[02:42:38]** question and answer additionally Nadia

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> éViste a alguien? No, yo no via nadie (no one)

**[02:42:40]** indicates no one which is a third negative in the sentence which is impossible in English but logic iCal in Spanish of course you have to watch out for these ideas finally there are the

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> algun/o/a(s) - any ningun/o/a(s) - not any

**[02:42:49]** words alun and nun which mean any or not any and they're the most complicated negatives in Spanish mainly because they're the only ones that have gender and plurality however using them in context is not that complicated especially when you know what the context is asking something

> **[on-screen 02:43:02]**
> éTienes algun libro aqui?

**[02:43:03]** like means do you have any book here if

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> éTienes algun libro aqui? Do you have any book here?

**[02:43:06]** you reply with a negative the word has to match the gender and plurality if there is one so the answer in Spanish would be

> **[on-screen 02:43:12]**
> éTienes algun libro aqui? Do you have any book here? No, yo no tengo ningun libro aqui No, I do not have any book here

**[02:43:13]** no no I do not have any book here again having nun as a third negative in case

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> éTienes algun libro aqui? Do you have any book here? No, yo no tengo ningun libro aqui No, | do not have any book here

**[02:43:18]** we want to pluralize the sentence we can ask alak meaning do you have some or any

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> éTienes algunos libros aqui? Do you have some books here?

**[02:43:24]** books here and the reply can be

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> éTienes algunos libros aqui? Do you have some books here? No, yo no tengo ningunos libros aqui No, I do not have any books here

**[02:43:27]** no meaning no I do not have any books here in Spanish you have three negatives

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> éTienes algunos libros aqui? Do you have some books here? No, yo no tengo ningunos libros aqui No, | do not have any books here

**[02:43:32]** but English does not allow it one final example can be

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> éConoces alguna tienda por aqui?

**[02:43:35]** Kos meaning are you familiar with any

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> éConoces alguna tienda por aqui? Are you familiar with any store around here?

**[02:43:38]** store around here and you can reply with

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> éConoces alguna tienda por aqui? Are you familiar with any store around here? No, yo no conozco ninguna

**[02:43:40]** no y kosuna meaning no I am not familiar

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> éConoces alguna tienda por aqui? Are you familiar with any store around here? No, yo no conozco ninguna No, | am not familiar with any

**[02:43:43]** with any as always you can make any sentence you want using negatives in Spanish and hopefully after this video you understand how negatives work in the

> **[on-screen 02:43:49]**
> Spanish: How Negatives Work In The Language
