No tiene nada de estupido..... no tiene nada de + adjective phrase help

Question

I am seeing this:

• No tiene nada de estupido
• No tiene nada de elegante
• No tiene nada de malo tener una amiga vedette
• No tiene nada de mala
• El amor no tiene nada de bonito,

and I wonder what the "no tiene nada de" phrase equates to. I was thinking "it has nothing to do with" until I saw "No tiene nada de malo tener una amiga vedette" and it doesn't fit there so good. There's nothing stupid about it? There's nothing elegant about it? So where does tiene fit in? Love has nothing to do with beauty. No tiene nada de mala. There's nothing bad about it? Gracias. I'm not sure on this one.

Answer 1

"No tiene nada de estúpido" means "He is not stupid at all", whereas "No tiene nada de malo tener una amiga" means "There is nothing wrong with having a (girl)friend".

The first one is almost literally (ignoring the Spanish double-negative): "(He) has nothing (characteristic) of (a typical) stúpid, with implicit ideas shown in bracket, including the subject, which is "He/she" here.

The second sentence is almost literally (but changing the order): Having a friend has nothing (that can be though) of (as being) bad. Again, with implicit fillings to try to get the idea through. Notice that the subject is now "having a friend".

If you get the idea, forget about all those brackets, accept them as they are, and just make an effort to understand them in their own context.

Answer 2

I'm only familiar with the use of "no tener nada de + noun"

To not have --------------- at all.

I don't know about the use with an adjective, sorry.

Answer 3

and this one •El amor no tiene nada de bonito is an 'Alvite' phrase. There's nothing pretty about love!

Answer 4

So without a contextual phrase, just with an adjective like "no tiene nada de elegante" it means "He/She/It is not elegant at all" Like "Ese vestido no tiene nada de elegante" or what about with a noun "Ese vestido no tiene nada de estilo" does a noun work too? This dress is not elegant at all. Or "él no tiene nada de malo" = He's not a bad guy. He is not bad at all. (He has nothing to do with being bad). But contextually it can be more like "There's nothing bad about........"

I think I can visualize it that way well. Simple adjective/noun following "No tiene nada de...." = He/She/It is not X at all. While a phrase could tend more to be ""There's nothing bad about........" given the situation.

Gracias.

It sounds strange. "Nada de estilo" would work with a person; with things "nada de elegante" sounds better. - lazarus1907, Aug 31, 2010

But aside from that everything is OK? Gracias Lazarus. - jeezzle, Aug 31, 2010