Affirmative and negative expressions

NOTE: In Spanish, double negation is very common, as stated in the examples below.

ALGO y NADA/ Something and nothing

Algo and nada are invariable and refer to things and objects.

EXAMPLES:

· Hay algo afuera./ There is something outside.

· No hay nada en el refrigerador./ There is nothing in the refrigerator.

ALGUIEN y NADIE / Someone and no one

Alguien and nadie are invariable and refer to people. When alguien, nadie, alguno and ninguno are direct objects, they must be preceded by the personal a when they refer to a person.

EXAMPLES:

· Invité aalguien a salir./ I asked someone out.

· No defiendo anadie. / I don't defend anybody.

ALGUNO (someone or some) y NINGUNO (no one or none)

Alguno and ninguno can refer to people or things. Furthermore, alguno and ninguno drop the final -o before masculine singular nouns similarly, uno /one shortens to un, and bueno / good to buen.

EXAMPLES:

· Algún día venderemos millones./ Some day we'll sell millions.

· Ningún producto está fallado./ None of the products is damaged.

NOTE: Ninguno is never used in a plural form.

ALGUNA VEZ/ Ever

Alguna vez is equivalent to ever.

EXAMPLE:

· ¿Has diseñado alguna vez un logotipo?/ Have you ever designed a logo?

THE USE OF MULTIPLE NEGATIVE:

1. Whenever the negative words nada, nadie, nunca, tampoco, jamás, follow the verb, no must precede the verb, which produces a multiple negative construction.

EXAMPLE:

· No como nunca espinaca./ I never eat spinach.

2. The negative word can be placed at the end of the sentence.

EXAMPLE:

· No como espinaca nunca. / I never eat spinach.

3. When the negative word precedes the verb, the word no is NOT used.

EXAMPLE:

· Nunca como espinaca./ I never eat spinach.

DOUBLE NO

When the answer to a question is negative, the word no appears twice. It appears at the beginning of the sentence and also in front of the verb.

EXAMPLE:

· Juan: ¿Abren ahora?/ Are you going to open now?

· Clerk: No, no abrimos hasta las diez./ No, we don't open until ten.

NOTE: Usually the subject pronoun is omitted in the answer because the verb ending identifies the subject, as in the example above.

NUNCA JAMÁS/ never again

Nunca jamás is one of the strongest negative forms that is equivalent to never ever or never again.

EXAMPLE:

· Nunca jamás ganarán./ They'll never ever win.

NUNCA MÁS/ Never again

Nunca más is equivalent to never again.

EXAMPLE:

· Nunca más vi a Ana./ I have not seen Ana ever again

JAMÁS/ Ever

Jamás is used as a superlative and is equivalent to ever.

EXAMPLE:

· Este projecto es el más intenso que jamás he empredido./ This project is the most intense that I have ever undertaken.

TAMBIÉN/ Also or too

También expresses the union of two affirmative sentences. También means also or too.

EXAMPLES:

· Yo quiero comer; también ellos quieren comer./ I want to eat; they want to eat too.

· Nosotros también ganamos la competencia./ We also won the competition.

TAMPOCO/ Neither

Tampoco means neither and is used to unite negative sentences.

EXAMPLE:

· Victoria no comió, y yo tampoco. / Victoria didn't eat and neither did I.

NI/ Nor

Ni connects two negative constructions.

EXAMPLE:

· No quiero ni comer ni beber./ I don't want to eat or drink.

Ni siquiera and sometimes ni are equivalent to not even.

EXAMPLES:

· Pedro ni siquiera me saludó./ Pedro did not even greet me.

· Pedro no quiere ni saludarme./ Pedro doesn't even want to greet me.

PAST TENSE

 

In Spanish there are 2 simple past tenses, the preterite and the imperfect. A simple tense is one that does not need an auxiliary verb, such as to have.

1. El pretérito/ The preterite

2. El imperfecto/ The imperfect

EL PRETÉRITO/ THE PRETERIT

The preterite is used to refer to an action, state or condition that is considered fully completed in the past. It is formed by removing the infinitive endings -ar, -er, and -ir and adding the appropriate endings as follows:

NOTE: The endings of verbs ending in -er and -ir are identical.

Pronoun	Comprar/ to buy	Vender/ to sell	Recibir/ to receive
yo/ I	compr é	vend í	recib í
tú/ you	compr aste	vend iste	recib iste
él, ella, Ud./ he, she, you	compr ó	vend ió	recib ió
nos./ we	compr amos	vend imos	recib imos
vos./you	compr asteis	vend isteis	recib isteis
ellos, Uds./ they, you	compr aron	vend ieron	recib ieron

NOTE: The first person (yo), the third person (él, ella) and Ud. require written accents. Without the accents, these words mean something else. For instance, compro (without the accent) is the present tense for the first person. For accentuation rules, click here.

EL USO DEL PRETÉRITO/ THE USE OF THE PRETERIT

1. The preterite tense is used to report the beginning or the end of an action.

EXAMPLES

· Ana abrió la puerta y salió volando./ Ana opened the door and left swiftly.

· Esta mañana empezó a llover./ This morning it started to rain.

2. The Spanish preterite has 2 equivalents in English.

EXAMPLE

Llovió ayer.

It rained yesterday. It did rain yesterday.

NOTE: There is NO equivalent for the English auxiliary did. Therefore, to formulate a question in preterite tense, the subject and the verb are inverted or the interrogative intonation is used.

EXAMPLE

¿Subió el interés? ¿El interés subió?

Did the interest increase?

3. The preterite can be used to interrupt an action in the imperfect tense (IT).

EXAMPLE

· Trabajábamos (IT) intensamente cuando anunciaron los despidos masivos./ We were working intensely when they announced the massive lay-offs.