Sentence of the day - using negatives

Question

Ningunas vacaciones a Alaska son completas sin una excursión a Mt. McKinley

No vacation to Alaska is complete without a trip to Mt. McKinley.

The above sentence is one I would consider on the advanced side. "Ningunas is plural to modify vacaciones which for the most part is used in the plural and I think completas modifies vacaciones also since it is plural. Can someone explain the direct and or indirect objects of this sentence? Also, in speaking would or could you use "No" in place of Ningunas?

Answer 1

Hi.

I'm not sure what direct and indirect objects you mean.

You have a predicate adjective completas which does modify vacaciones.

You also have the object of a preposition (sin) which is una excursión.

This probably doesn't help you much. Sorry.

I don't think that No vacaciones would work. - Delores--Lindsey, Jun 19, 2010

Answer 2

I'm not a grammarian so I can't really explain objects to anyone (direct, indirect, or otherwise). In your sentence, however, I do suspect that "Mt. McKinley" is an object of some sort.

I agree with Delores that "No" would not work to begin the sentence. I do think, though, that you could also express it in the singular as you did in English:

Ninguna vacación a Alaska es completa sin una excursión a Mt. McKinley.