You have probably heard that double negatives are incorrect because two negatives make a positive. For example, "I don't have none" means "I have some" and "He doesn't know no one" would mean "He knows someone." However, while this holds true in English, the same is not so in Spanish, where double negatives are perfectly acceptable and commonplace! Let's further explore this concept.

Simple Negation in Spanish

As you might know, to create a negative Spanish sentence, you simply add the word "no" in front of the verb. To state a very simple example, while Voy means "I'm going," No voy means "I'm not going."

Creating Double Negatives in Spanish 

To add emphasis to the aforementioned sentence, you could add an additional negative Spanish word like nunca (never) as we see below:

No voy nunca.

I'm never going/I'm not ever going.

Despite the fact that this sentence's literal translation, "I'm not going never," would be unacceptable in English, as we stated previously, there is nothing negative about Spanish double negatives! Another thing to note about Spanish double negative sentences is that, as we see in the example above, there is often more than one correct way to translate them to English. 

Negative Spanish Words

The following list of negative Spanish words are often used to create Spanish double negative sentences:

jamás: never, ever

nadie: nobody, no one

ningún: no, not a single, any

ninguno/a: no, none, not one, nobody, no one

nunca: never, ever

tampoco: neither, nor, either 

ni: nor, not even

Armed with this information, let's take a look at several examples of Spanish double negatives from our Yabla Spanish library. To help you think about them, we have included their literal translations as well as alternative translations to English in some cases.

No, no, mi amor, no vino nadie a verme, no, no.

No, no, my love, nobody came to see me, no, no.

Caption 1, Yago 10 Enfrentamientos - Part 6

 Play Caption

Literal translation: No one didn't come to see me.

él no dijo nada.

he didn't say anything.

Caption 52, Los Años Maravillosos Capítulo 12 - Part 3

 Play Caption

Literal translation: He didn't say nothing.

Alternative translation: He said nothing. 

No, no tengo ninguno, no... ¿Por qué? ¿Qué propones?

No, I don't have any, I don't... Why? What do you suggest?

Captions 23-24, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa Capítulo 4 - Part 7

 Play Caption

Literal translation: I don't have none.

Alternative translation: I have none.

banner4 PLACEHOLDER

Additional Spanish Double Negative Formulas 

In addition to the word "no," the placement of additional negative Spanish words like nunca (never), tampoco (not either) or nadie (no one) before verbs can also negate phrases, as in the sentences Tampoco voy (I'm not going either), Él nunca toma alchohol (He never drinks alcohol) and Nadie viene (No one is coming). Therefore, we can also form Spanish double negatives with these words plus an additional negative word, as we see in the examples below. Can you come up with their literal or additional English translations?

Yo ahí tampoco espero nada.

I don't expect anything there either.

Caption 55, Confidencial: Broma pesada Capítulo 3 - Part 7

 Play Caption

por él no me preocupo, a él nunca le pasa nada.

I don't worry about him; nothing ever happens to him.

Caption 34, La Sucursal del Cielo Capítulo 3 - Part 10

 Play Caption

Nadie va a ninguna parte.

Nobody's going anywhere.

Caption 31, Los Años Maravillosos Capítulo 10 - Part 7

 Play Caption

Spanish Triple Negatives and Beyond

Interestingly, not only are double negatives OK in Spanish, but so are triple negatives and more! Let's take a look at a few examples of this phenomenon, starting with a triple negative sentence:

pues no quiere deberle nada a nadie cuando llegue a la presidencia

for he doesn't want to owe anything to anyone when he gets to the presidency

Caption 53, Andrés Manuel López Obrador Publicidad de Obrador

 Play Caption

Let's see one more:

Nunca he viajado ni en campervan ni en autocaravana.

I've never traveled in either a camper or in a motorhome.

Caption 18, Viajando con Fermín Caravaning - Part 2

 Play Caption

Keep in mind that that although the previous sentence entailed a triple negative, there is no limit to the number of times that the Spanish word ni, which functions as the equivalent of English words like "either," "or," "neither" and "nor," can be used in a sentence. For example, if you wanted to add on some additional modes of transportation on which you had never traveled, you could do so as follows:

Nunca he viajado ni en campervan ni en autocaravana ni en avión ni en helicóptero ni en tren. 

I've never traveled in either a camper or in a motorhome or in an airplane or on a train. 

Let's conclude this lesson with the frequently-heard double negative phrase nunca jamás (the Spanish equivalent of "never ever," which you can learn more about in our lessons on Never and Ever in Spanish). Let's take a look at this phrase in the context of a Spanish triple negative: 

nunca digas nunca jamás.

never ever say never.

Caption 89, Confidencial: Broma pesada Capítulo 1 - Part 14

 Play Caption

That's all for today. We hope that this lesson has helped you to better understand the idea of double and even multiple negative sentences in Spanish, and we urge you to both be on the lookout for them and formulate some of your own! And don't forget to write us with your questions and comments.

banner4 PLACEHOLDER

Did you watch our video about Spanish negation? In it, Marta explains that to make a negative sentence in Spanish, you basically need to place the word no before the verb in any given sentence, like this one from our animated friend Guillermina:

By combining the word no with the word ni (nor) you can negate more than one idea:

As in English, you can use ni (nor) as many times as you want:

There are some other negative words in Spanish: nada (nothing), nadie (nobody), jamás (never), nunca (never), and tampoco (neither). How are these negative words used in Spanish? You place them right before the verb:

You can also combine these words with the word no. In this case you should use no before the verb and the additional negative after it:

As you can see, this leads us to probably the most interesting thing about negation in Spanish: the fact that double and triple negatives are very common:

No me gusta deberle nada a nadie.

I don't like to owe anything to anyone.

Caption 12, El Ausente Acto 2 - Part 5

 Play Caption

Notice how in the previous quote the English translation uses the negative “don’t” first, and then the affirmative “anything” and “anyone” instead of “nothing” and “nobody” (which are the literal equivalent to nada and nadie). This is so because formal written English doesn’t use double negation. By contrast, the general rule in Spanish is not to mix negative and affirmative words in the same sentence. See for example:

Yo no pido nada más

I don't ask for anything else

Caption 14, Enrique Iglesias Alguien soy yo

 Play Caption

Where Spanish uses two consecutive negatives (no and nada), English uses one negative (don't) and one affirmative (anything). Saying "Yo no pido algo más" or "Yo pido nada más" in Spanish is similar to saying “I don’t ask for nothing else” in English.

banner2 PLACEHOLDER