The rules governing the way sentences are negated in Spanish are rather
different from the equivalent rules in English. For example, while negation
in English frequently involves the use of the verb ‘do’, as in ‘John doesn’t
drive’ or ‘We didn’t see anyone’, Spanish never makes use of hacer ‘to do’.
In addition, while so-called double negatives such as ‘We didn’t see nobody’
are frowned upon in English, it is routine in Spanish to combine two nega-
tive words: Novimos a nadie.No
This the most common negative word in Spanish. It may be used with the
meaning of ‘no’ to give a negative answer to a question, or with verbs and
other words with the sense of ‘not’, or ‘don’t’, ‘doesn’t’, ‘didn’t’.No used with verbsNo precedes verbs to form a negative statement or question. In compound
verbal constructions formed with haber, seror estar, it precedes the auxil-
iary:No quieren venir. They do not want to come.
No has puesto tu edad. You haven’t filled in your age.
In general, the only item that can be placed between noand the verb is a
weak object pronoun. If a subject is mentioned, it must precede noor be
placed after the verb:No lo veo muy claramente. I can’t see it very clearly.24.1.124.1