Home » Spanish Vocab and Grammar » ¡No Pasa Nada! Learn the Essential Affirmative and Negative Words and Phrases in Spanish
By hannahgreenwald Last updated: July 9, 2022
¡No Pasa Nada! Learn the Essential Affirmative and Negative Words and Phrases in SpanishThink back to the first ten words you learned in Spanish.
I’m willing to bet that sí (yes) and no (no) were among them, right?
These two little words are incredibly useful.
Accompanied by lots of nodding, vigorous head shaking and hand gestures, they can actually get you pretty far in the Spanish-speaking world!
But sí and no are only two of a long list of useful affirmative and negative Spanish words, such as with and without, anybody and nobody, either and neither, and many others.
Read on for a run-down of all the affirmative and negative words you need to speak Spanish like a pro. You’ll also learn 14 useful phrases to employ affirmative and negative words in everyday Spanish conversation.
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
Notice that alguno (a) and ninguno (a) must match the gender of the noun they replace or modify. Alguno and ninguno also have different forms when used before masculine singular nouns:
alguno (a) -> algún / ninguno (a) -> ningún
If a verb is preceded by no, the words that follow must be negative. A double negative is required in Spanish when "no" precedes the verb.
In these notes you will learn more about negative and affirmative words used in Spanish; including indefinite pronouns to mean nobody, nothing, someone, something, and many more. Read the explanations and the example sentences carefully to be ready to complete the exercises below to practice and to test yourself.
When we want to talk about an indefinite situation we use an affirmative word.
When we want to talk about a negative situation we use a negative word.
Alguno and ninguno must match the gender and number of the noun they replace or modify.
Note that alguno changes to algún when used before masculine singular nouns.
Similarly, ninguno changes to ningún when used before masculine singular nouns.
Note that if you are including the masculine noun you will use the words algún or ningún. If you are not including the masculine noun because it is already known, it was already mentioned, etc, you use the form alguno and ninguno.
If a verb is preceded by "no" then any words that follow must be negative. A double negative is required in Spanish when "no" precedes the verb:
However, if the negative word comes before the verb, we don't need to use "no".
Exercise 1: Look at the pictures and answer the questions with suitable words.
Ejercicio 1: Mira las fotos y responde las preguntas con las siguientes palabras.
Hints: ningún (x2), algunas, algunos, ninguna, siempre, nadie (x3).
Note: Try to use the correct written accents if you can e.g.: á, é, í, ó, ú, ñ, ü.
If you don't know the correct answer, type '?' to reveal it.
1. ¿Hay alguna persona en el mar? - Sí hay
2. ¿Hay algún tiburón en el mar? - No, no hay
3. ¿Hay mucha gente en el verano? -
4. ¿Hay alguien en la playa? - No, no hay
5. ¿Algunas personas juegan en el mar? - No,
6. Me parece que no hay
7. Sí, hay
8.
9. ¿Alguien está comiendo? - No,
Exercise 2: Classify these words as affirmative or negative.
Ejercicio 2: Clasifica estas palabras como positivas o negativas
Exercise 3: Complete the Spanish sentence to mean the same as the English.
Ejercicio 3: Lee las oraciones en inglés y completa las que están en español para que tengan el mismo significado.