NEGATIVE SENTENCES

Differences between English and Spanish negative sentences Spanish makes a simple negative sentence by placing no in front of the conjugated verb. Él no habla español. English uses a helping verb to make a sentence negative even though the affirmative sentence has no helping verb. He does not speak Spanish. Spanish does not use any helping verbs to make a sentence negative. DON’T TRY TO TRANSLATE THE HELPING VERB “DO” OR “DOES” TO ANY SPANISH SENTENCE.

SIMPLE NEGATIVE SENTENCES IN SPANISH The best way to create a simple negative sentence is to think of the affirmative sentence and put a no in front of the verb. Marco doesn’t play soccer. = Marco juega al fútbol. = Marco no juega al fútbol.

USING OTHER NEGATIVE WORDS IN SPANISH Some sentences have one negative word and some have two, three, or four. There will always be one negative word in front of the verb. Any other word in the sentence that has a negative version will be in the negative, EVEN THOUGH EQUIVALENT ENGLISH NEGATIVE SENTENCES OFTEN USE AFFIRMATIVE WORDS.

THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO WRITE NEGATIVE SENTENCES IN SPANISH. 1. No in front of the conjugated verb. You may need to put another negative word after the conjugated verb. 2. Negative word in front of the conjugated verb. You will not use no in this pattern. No estudio nunca. = Nunca estudio. No trabaja nadie aquí. = Nadie trabaja aquí.

¡PRACTICAMOS. Write each sentence using each of the two patterns ¡PRACTICAMOS! Write each sentence using each of the two patterns. Use the negative words in parenthesis. Estudiamos antes de un examen. (no, nunca) No estudiamos nunca antes de un examen. Nunca estudiamos antes de un examen. Practica el fútbol. (no, nadie) No practica el fútbol nadie. Nadie practica el fútbol. Los domingos hago mucho. (no, nada) Los domingos no hago nada. Los domingos nada hago.

¡PRACTICAMOS! Translate the sentences into Spanish. 1. I never attend exercise class. No asisto nunca a la clase de ejercicios. Nunca asisto a la clase de ejercicios. 2. His friends don’t read the newspaper. Sus amigos no leen el periódico. 3. No one scuba dives in Nebraska. No bucea nadie en Nebraska. Nadie bucea en Nebraska.

¡MÁS PRACTICA! 4. My friends and I never ski on the weekends. Mis amigos y yo no esquiamos nunca los fines de semana. Mis amigos y yo nunca esquiamos los fines de semana. 5. Don’t you write letters to your friends? ¿No escribes cartas a tus amigos? 6. No one ever camps in March. Nadie no acampa nunca en marzo. Nadie nunca acampa en marzo.