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

To begin this lesson, let's take a look at a caption in a Yabla video that recently baffled one our subscribers:

Obviamente, la comunicación es la esencia de este tipo de trabajos.

Obviously, communication is the essence of this type of job.

Caption 40, Negocios - La solicitud de empleo

 Play Caption

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

Spanish sentences such as this one involving "tipo de" ["type" or "types of"] tend to confuse English speakers. After all, the literal translation of this sentence would read, "Obviously, communication is the essence of this type of jobs," which doesn’t work in English since “this” is singular and “jobs” is plural. In the vast majority of similar constructions in English involving countable nouns (nouns like "leaf/leaves," "cookie/cookies," etc. that can be physically counted), there must be singular/singular or plural/plural agreement, leaving one with the choice of either "this type of job" or "these types of jobs." 

However, this is not the case in Spanish since singular with plural is the most common construction, or occasionally singular with singular in the case of a single noun. Let’s look at some examples of each of these cases:

Singular with Plural with Countable Nouns: 

Si a todo esto añadimos otro tipo de problemas medio ambientales.

If to all this we add another kind of environmental problem.

Caption 16, 3R - Campaña de reciclaje

 Play Caption

Yo sí tengo la esperanza que se reduzc'... se reduzcan este tipo de eventos, ¿no?

I do have the hope that these types of occurrences will be red'... will be reduced, right?

Caption 57, Amigos D.F. - El secuestrar

 Play Caption

Singular with Singular (with a Single Countable Noun): 

¿Qué tipo de habitación desea?

What kind of room would you like?

Caption 10, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa - Capítulo 1

 Play Caption

Note that in the case above, habitación is considered a single noun since the gentleman being addressed is only looking for one room; hence the singular with singular construction.

Uncountable Nouns: 

In both Spanish and English, uncountable nouns (nouns like "water," "coffee," "love," etc. that cannot be counted) go in singular with tipo de (or "type(s)" or "kind(s)") of as follows: 

Y digamos que conforme se va fabricando ese tipo de líquido,

And let's say that just as that type of liquid is being produced,

Caption 92, Animales en familia - La operación de Yaki

 Play Caption

En ellos, recibió todo tipo de apoyo de sus simpatizantes.

In them, he got all kinds of support from his followers.

Caption 35, Andrés Manuel López Obrador - Publicidad de Obrador

 Play Caption

To add further confusion for English speakers (sorry!), in most such cases with "partitive" (referring to part of a whole) constructions like "tipo de," the verb can be conjugated in either singular or plural! Let's take a look at a couple of examples:

En cuanto al tipo de... trabajos que me gusta ver.

In terms of the types of... projects that I like to see.

Caption 22, Álvaro - Arquitecto Español en Londres

 Play Caption

Note that the verb gustar is conjugated in first person in accordance with the singular noun el tipo. However, without changing the translation, it would be perfectly acceptable to instead conjugate gustar in accordance with the plural trabajos:

En cuanto al tipo de... trabajos que me gustan ver.

In terms of the types of... projects that I like to see.

Let's look at one more example: 

Además, en la conjugación de los verbos,

Also, in the conjugation of verbs,

este tipo de sufijos nos indican.

these types of suffixes tell us.

Captions 35-36, Carlos explica - Diminutivos y Aumentativos Cap 1: Los sufijos

 Play Caption

While indicar is conjugated in accordace with the plural noun sufijos, it could alternatively be conjugated in accordance with the singular noun tipo: 

Además, en la conjugación de los verbos,

Also, in the conjugation of verbs,

este tipo de sufijos nos indica.           

these types of suffixes tell us.

Finally, it is worth noting that, in the cases of particular Spanish linking verbs like ser (to be), estar (to be), or parecer (to seem), the verb is nearly always conjugated in plural when followed by a subject complement (most simply defined as an "attribute"), as follows: 

Este tipo de bicicletas están pensadas

This type of bicycle is planned

para desplazamientos cortos.

for short distances.

Captions 5-6, Raquel - Alquilar una bicicleta

 Play Caption

To conclude, although we have focused on tipo de for the purpose of this lesson, other "partitive constructions" like el resto de (the rest of), la mayor parte de (most of), la mayoría de (most of), etc. function the same way.

We hope you've enjoyed this lesson, and don't forget to leave us your comments and suggestions.