No in Spanish is the word they use to make negative sentences. It equals to No and Not in English.

According to the Cambridge dictionary website, in English “no” goes before a noun phrase and not with any other phrase or clause.

No in Spanish is even easier, because you cannot use a negative particular before a noun, so you should never have the doubt.

Let’s see examples:

In English you would say “There are no apples in the fridge” but in Spanish you have to change the order and the No will be always before the verb: “No hay manzanas en el frigorífico”.

Even when you want to use the imperative, no in Spanish goes before a verb. For example:

“No dogs allowed” would be “No se admiten perros”.

No in Spanish with Nada and ninguna

No in Spanish also work for sentences that in English would use any, and there are slightly differences.

In English, “He paid no attention to the teacher” is stronger than “He didn’t pay any attention to the teacher.”

One could say that Any in Spanish es ninguno or ninguna. However, when you use them, the negative is stronger. Like this:

“No ha prestado ninguna atención al profesor” is stronger than “No ha prestado atención al profesor”.

This is because while when speaking in English you make emphasis in the No, in Spanish you make it in the Ninguna.

So “He paid NO attention to the teacher” equals to “No ha prestado NINGUNA atención al profesor”.

There is still one more thing to know. Keep in mind that when using ningún and ninguna, when you start the sentence with them, you cannot use No in Spanish. For example:

• Ninguno de esos coches es rojo.
• No hay ningún coche rojo.
• Ningún coche rojo ha venido.
• No ha venido ningún coche rojo

But never try to add the no in Spanish after a sentence that starts with ningún or ninguno/a.

The same happens with Nada:

• Nada es perfecto.
• No hay nada perfecto

So this is it. All you need to know about no in Spanish.

Do you have any doubt? Leave a comment!

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