Negatives

Negatives Practice exercises

Simple negation

Place 'no' before the verb (or object pronoun),

e.g. No tengo animales en casa - I don't have any pets at home; No los compré - I didn't buy them

Other common negative expressions

These expressions can either go before the verb or in a 'negative sandwich' (no + verb + negative)

nada	nothing	No hice nada	I did nothing
nadie	nobody, no one	Nadie la ha visto	No one has seen her
nunca	never	Nunca he estado en España	I've never been to Spain
jamás (stronger than nunca)	never	Jamás iré a Madrid en agosto otra vez	I'll never go to Madrid in August again
ningún, ninguna	no, not any, none	No hay ninguna solución	There is no solution
ni... ni...	neither... nor...	No tengo ni boli ni lápiz	I have neither a biro nor a pencil
ni siquiera	not even	Ni siquiera me miró	She didn't even look at me
tampoco	not either, neither	No me gusta tampoco	It don't like it either
ya no	no longer	Ya no trabaja aquí	He no longer works here

Sino

Sino is used to translate but where there is negative in the first half the sentence, i.e. sino introduces a contradiction,

e.g. No es alto sino bajo - He is not tall but short.

Note also the expression no sólo... sino también - not only... but also

e.g. No sólo me gusta el fútbol sino también el rugby - Not only do I like football but also rugby.