Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right

The expression in my title for today's post is to make a point about negatives. Like in math, a negative plus a negative still equals a negative, it is the same when speaking Spanish.

Take the following example:

 

English	Spanish
Nobody answered her.	No le contestó nadie.

I want to bring your attention to two aspects with the above example. First, notice how negative words usually begin with the letter 'N'. Take for example nothing, never, neither, nobody, nowhere, etc. Spanish is the same way. It uses words that begin with the letter 'N' to denote a negative idea. Second, notice that the English side only has one negative word -- nobody. On the Spanish side, there are two negative words -- no and nadie. Spanish requires that every word in a negative sentence that has a negative counterpart must be in the negative. I know that sounds confusing, but it is really getting back to what I stated at the beginning about two negatives equaling a negative. The first word, No, is to negate the verb contestó (answered). The second word, nadie, is the word for nobody. Two negative words in Spanish means everything is negative in that sentence. Simple, huh?

Here are some negative words for you to learn:

English	Spanish
No	No
Nobody	Nadie
Never	Nunca (or jamás)
None	Ninguno/a
Neither … nor	Ni … ni

Hopefully this has helped a bit with turning sentences towards the negative -- at least for Spanish. If you would like to add to this post, please submit your comment below. If I can help answer any questions, please send me an email to SpanishMyWay@hotmail.com. ¡Hasta luego!