The most direct way to negate a sentence is to put no in front of the main verb: No estudio, No vienen, No quiero café. In Spanish, the verb marks the center of negation, so no appears before the verbal form that carries the main meaning. If the sentence has several verbs, no goes in front of the verb that introduces the negated action: No puedo salir, No voy a llamar. The placement of the rest of the sentence follows the usual rules of Word Order.

Basic use of verbal negation

Idea
The simplest way to negate a sentence is to put no in front of the main verb.

Words like never, nobody, nothing and any deny by themselves a part of the sentence. Never denies time: Never arrive late. Nobody denies people: Nobody called. Nothing denies things or actions: I don’t see anything or Nothing concerns me. Any denies the existence of a particular element in front of a noun: I have no problem. These words have their own negative scope and usually appear near the idea they negate, as also happens in Word Order.

nuncanadieningúnnada

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Significa ninguna cosaSignifica ninguna personaSignifica en ningún momentoSignifica ninguna antes de un sustantivo masculino singular

Commonly used negative words

Word	Definition
nunca	Means at no time.
nadie	Means no person.
nada	Means nothing.
ningún	Means none before a masculine singular noun.

Scramble

In Spanish, two negative elements can work together to reinforce a single negation. You say No vino nadie, No tengo nada, No salgo nunca. Here no negates the sentence and nadie, nada or nunca negate the specific element. The result remains a single negation, not two opposite ideas. That is why Nadie vino and No vino nadie convey the same basic negation, even though the second form uses two negative marks. The agreement between subject and verb remains the normal one of Subject-Verb Agreement.

Reinforcement of negation with two elements

Idea
In Spanish, two negative words can reinforce the negation.
When nobody or nothing appears, you normally also use no in the sentence.
The double negation does not cancel the negative meaning.

When a sentence has negative words, placing them near the verb helps the phrase sound natural. No goes before the verb: No lo sé, No me gusta. If a negative pronoun like nadie or nada appears after the verb, it is usually placed immediately after or near it: No vi a nadie, No escuché nada. Nunca and jamás also tend to come close to the verb: Nunca llegamos tarde, Jamás lo haría. This order keeps the relationship between negation and the verb clear, just as the general organization of Word Order does.

Natural placement of negative words

Usage	Explanation
Before the verb	Use before the verb when the negative word modifies the entire sentence.
After no	Put the negative word near the verb when the sentence already has no.
With final focus	Place the negative word at the end if you want to add more expressive force.

In a question, the negation can seek confirmation, show surprise, or express contradiction. ¿No vienes? seeks to check an idea or invites the other person to confirm. ¿No te gusta? may sound surprised. ¿No dijiste que venías? presents a contradiction with something that was expected. Negative forms with words like nunca or nadie are also used: ¿Nunca has estado allí?, ¿No vio nadie el coche?. The intonation and punctuation of these questions follow the rules of Punctuation and Interrogative Sentences.

Use of negation in questions

Usage	Explanation
Surprise	Use negation in questions to show astonishment at something unexpected.
Doubt	Use negation in questions to express uncertainty about information.
Contradiction	Use negation in questions to correct or doubt what someone said.

With an infinitive, no goes in front of the unconjugated verb form: No querer, No salir, No hacer ruido. In a structure with a gerund, no also goes in front of the -ando or -iendo form: No hablando, No corriendo, although in practice it tends to appear inside more complete constructions such as Está no diciendo la verdad in very marked contexts. When the main verb carries an infinitive or a gerund, the negation affects the verb that expresses the negated action: No puedo salir, No está trabajando. The internal order of these verb forms relates to Verb Tenses.

Position of no in non-personal forms

Idea
With an infinitive, no goes in front of to sing or any other verb in the infinitive.
With a gerund, no goes in front of laughing or any other gerund.
The negation affects the entire action expressed by the non-personal form.

In negative commands, no goes in front of the verb: No hables, No salgas, No comas eso. If the verb carries an unstressed pronoun, the pronoun goes after the verb and attached to it: No me llames, No te levantes, No lo toques. With pronominal verbs, the same pattern is kept: No te preocupes, No se lo digas. In Spanish, the negative form of the imperative uses this fixed position so that the order is clear, and the placement of the pronoun follows the logic of Word Order.

Negative orders and pronominal verbs

Idea
In a negative imperative, no goes before the verb.
With pronominal verbs, no goes before the unstressed pronoun.
In the negative command, the pronoun remains attached to the verb.

When negation affects only part of the sentence, each subordinate clause can carry its own negative marker. No salgo porque no tengo tiempo negates the exit and also provides the negative reason within the subordinate clause. Quiero que no venga negates the action of coming only in the subordinate clause. Dijo que nadie lo esperaba negates only what was expected in the dependent clause. The negation is placed inside the subordinate clause when the content negated is there, and outside it when it negates the main clause. This distribution is basic to form Subordinate Clauses with clarity.

Negative markers inside subordinate clauses

Idea
When the negation affects only the subordinate clause, each part of the sentence may carry its own negative marker.
If the subordinate clause expresses the main negation, place no inside that sentence.
Internal negation prevents the main sentence from changing meaning.