Las palabras negativas — The Negative Words

🚫 Las palabras negativas — The Negative Words

English only uses "not" and "never" for basic negation. Spanish has seven core negative words, each with a precise meaning. Learn all seven — they are all high-frequency in GCSE reading, listening, speaking, and writing.

Word	Meaning	Example	Translation
no	not	No hablo francés.	I don't speak French.
nunca	never	Nunca como carne.	I never eat meat.
jamás	never (emphatic)	Jamás lo haré.	I will never do it.
nada	nothing	No tengo nada.	I have nothing.
nadie	nobody	No hay nadie en casa.	There is nobody at home.
ningún / ninguna / ninguno	no (adjective) / none (pronoun)	No tengo ningún libro.	I have no book.
tampoco	neither / not either	A mí tampoco me gusta.	I don't like it either.

    ⭐ Key fact: Spanish has more negative words than English — and using double negatives IS correct! "No tengo nada" literally means "I don't have nothing" — this is exactly right in Spanish, not a mistake.
  

Spotlight

Dos patrones — The Two Patterns

Every negative word (except bare no) can appear in two positions in the sentence. Both are fully correct — you choose based on which word you want to emphasise.

Exam tip

Earn the mark scheme marks

💡 Common Errors — Negative Words

These are the two mistakes that lose the most marks in AQA Paper 4 (Writing) and Paper 2 (Speaking) when students attempt negative structures.

❌ Error 1: No tengo ninguno libro.

✅ Correct: No tengo ningún libro.

Why it matters: Ningún is the form used directly before a masculine singular noun — the final -o is dropped, just like buen from bueno. However, when no noun follows (the pronoun use), the full form ninguno is kept: ¿Tienes libros? No tengo ninguno. (Do you have any books? I have none.) The form depends entirely on what comes next: noun → ningún / ninguna; nothing → ninguno / ninguna.

❌ Error 2: Tampoco no me gusta el jazz.

✅ Correct: Tampoco me gusta el jazz. OR No me gusta el jazz tampoco.

Why it matters: Tampoco is itself a negative word. Pattern 1 — tampoco before the verb — means "no" before the verb is NOT needed. Pattern 2 — no before the verb — means tampoco goes after the verb. Mixing the patterns (tampoco no…) creates a triple negative that is grammatically wrong. Choose one pattern and stick to it. For AQA writing, Pattern 1 (Tampoco me gusta…) is the safer choice — it is shorter and harder to get wrong.

Now try it yourself

Quiz · Question 1 of 13

Tap an answer to check it

← Previous topic

Pronouns: subject + direct object (me/te/le/lo/la/les/los/las)

Next topic →

Higher structures: indirect object pronouns (nos/os) + por vs para + relative pronouns

Negation (no/nunca/jamás/nada/ninguno)

Las palabras negativas — The Negative Words

🚫 Las palabras negativas — The Negative Words

Earn the mark scheme marks

💡 Common Errors — Negative Words

Revise every Spanish topic, free now