ninguna otra cosa

Question

A sentence I was reading ended "...más que ninguna otra cosa."

It should translate "...more than anything."

The dictionary says that "ninguna cosa" means "nothing" and "otra cosa" means "something else".

So when you put it all together, does it mean "...more than anything"?

Answer 1

A better way would be "more than any other thing". This translation more correctly holds the emphasis in the Spanish; there is a feeling of exclusion of any other possible thing/idea/circumstance the way the Spanish is written.

Answer 2

Yes, it does mean "more than anything." I don't know how to explain this use of negatives in Spanish, but in slang English we could say "more than nothing." That's incorrect grammar in Eng, but correct in Span. Either way it's understood.

Answer 3

Well, in Spanish sometimes the negative is translated as a positive in English. For example, No te debo nada. Literally: I don't owe you nothing. Proper English: I don't owe you anything.

No dije nada. I didn't say anything. .

Answer 4

I think "más que ninguna otra cosa." and "más que alguna otra cosa" mean the same thing but "más que alguna otra cosa" is easier for an English speaker to understand. In fact, I think you can just "más que otra cosa" to mean the same thing. In Spanish negatives can be used to mean anything sometimes. As for the last one, a native will have to correct me if I am wrong on it, and I very well might be so don't select this answer. Gracias.

Answer 5

Thanks for all of the great answers! Now that I think of it, spanish negatives (except for "no") have always been a little confusing to me and I will now see them differently.