No hablo francés. No tengo hermanos.I don't speak French. I don't have any siblings.
Making a Spanish sentence negative is one of the easiest things to learn: no goes before the verb, and nothing else in the sentence changes. There's no extra helping verb like the English do/does, and the verb keeps the same form it had in the affirmative sentence.
Quick shortcut: put no before the verb (Hablo español → No hablo español). To answer a yes/no question negatively, you'll often hear no twice: No, no hablo español. Negative words such as nunca, nada, nadie and tampoco work with the same idea: before the verb they stand alone, and after the verb they need no in front of the verb.
How to make a negative sentence
Take the affirmative sentence and add no before the conjugated verb:
| Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|
| Hablo español. (I speak Spanish.) | No hablo español. (I don't speak Spanish.) |
| Ana vive en Madrid. (Ana lives in Madrid.) | Ana no vive en Madrid. (Ana doesn't live in Madrid.) |
| Somos médicos. (We are doctors.) | No somos médicos. (We aren't doctors.) |
| Está en casa. (He's at home.) | No está en casa. (He isn't at home.) |
| Tengo hambre. (I'm hungry.) | No tengo hambre. (I'm not hungry.) |
| Quiero comer. (I want to eat.) | No quiero comer. (I don't want to eat.) |
A few things worth noticing:
- The verb is exactly the same as in the affirmative sentence: Ana vive → Ana no vive. There's no separate "don't/doesn't" form to change.
- When two verbs go together (querer, poder + infinitive), no goes before the first one, the conjugated verb: No puedo ir. (I can't go.) · No quiero comer. (I don't want to eat.)
- It works with every verb, including ser, estar and tener: No soy médico. · No estoy cansado. · No tengo tiempo.
- Later you'll meet small pronouns that go with the verb, as in No lo sé. (I don't know.) or No me gusta. Then no goes before the pronoun, so the order is no + pronoun + verb.
Answering with no
no is also the Spanish word for "no", so a negative answer often has two of them: the first is the answer and the second negates the verb. ¿Hablas inglés? (Do you speak English?) · No, no hablo inglés. (No, I don't speak English.) You can also shorten it to just No. or add a polite No, gracias. (No, thank you.)
You can also turn a statement into a question by adding ¿no? at the end, to ask for confirmation: Hace frío, ¿no? (It's cold, isn't it?) A question can also start with no: ¿No tienes hambre? (Aren't you hungry?)
Other negative words: nunca, nada, nadie, tampoco
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| nunca | never | No fumo nunca. / Nunca fumo. (I never smoke.) |
| nada | nothing, not anything | No quiero nada. / Nada es gratis. (I don't want anything. / Nothing is free.) |
| nadie | nobody, not anybody | No habla nadie. / Nadie habla. (Nobody is speaking.) |
| tampoco | neither, not either | Yo tampoco hablo francés. / No hablo francés tampoco. (I don't speak French either.) |
The pattern is the same for all of them: when the negative word comes before the verb, it stands alone; when it comes after the verb, no goes in front of the verb. In Spanish this double negative is completely normal, and the two words together still mean one negative idea. See also the lesson on adverbs of frequency for nunca.
Common mistakes
- ❌ Hablo no español. → ✅ No hablo español. (no goes before the verb, not after it)
- ❌ Nunca no fumo. → ✅ Nunca fumo. (before the verb, nunca doesn't need another no)
- ❌ Quiero nada. → ✅ No quiero nada. (after the verb, nada needs no in front of the verb)
- ❌ Yo tampoco no hablo francés. → ✅ Yo tampoco hablo francés. (before the verb, tampoco stands alone)
Quick check
How does each sentence look when it is made negative?
- Hablo francés.
- Ana vive en Madrid.
- Somos médicos.
- Quiero comer.
- Complete: No quiero ___. (nothing)
Show answers
- No hablo francés. 2. Ana no vive en Madrid. 3. No somos médicos. 4. No quiero comer. 5. No quiero nada.
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Key takeaways
- no goes before the conjugated verb, and nothing else changes: Hablo → No hablo. Small pronouns that go with the verb come after no, as in No lo sé.
- Spanish needs no helping verb like English "do/does", and the verb form stays the same.
- With querer or poder + infinitive, no goes before the first (conjugated) verb: No puedo ir.
- A negative answer often has two nos: No, no hablo inglés.
- nunca, nada, nadie and tampoco stand alone before the verb, and need no in front of the verb when they come after it.