G A M E Negative Sentences

Question

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Just a little game to practice with our negative sentence structure:

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Using such words as:

nada, nothing

nadie, no-one, nobody

ningún/s/a/os/as, no, none, not any

nunca, never

jamás, never

How to play:

Click on newest.

Take the negative sentence given previously and omit the 'no' but make the sentence say the same thing by rearranging the sentence and placing the negative before the verb.

Eg:

Given: No vino nadie. Nobody came.

Rearranged: Nadie vino. Nobody came.

New Sentence: ......

Then give a new negative sentence starting with 'no' plus it's English translation.

Please come back and check your work for corrections!

Here's one to start us off:

Given:

No decía nada nunca a nadie.

He would never say anything to anyone.

Did you mean "No diría nada nunca a nadie"? - jeezzle, Jan 18, 2011

Well I guess technically if you want a word by word translation that'd be true but I was just using 'would' to mean 'used to' in the past - imp, so I think it still works? - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 18, 2011

Looks like he was never saying / he didn't say anything to anyone to me. No dijera nada a nadie I could see. but you might need a subjunctive lead in. - jeezzle, Jan 18, 2011

Would 'he never used to say anything to anyone' make you happier? :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 18, 2011

I guess I can't see how you can get would out of decía. - jeezzle, Jan 18, 2011

Nah, I'm just learning. If you're right you're right, but I wonder if you're right about decía being capable of indicating would. I think dijera can indicate would, and certainly diría, and maybe some others, but that's a past action, I can't imagine - jeezzle, Jan 18, 2011

why it could indicate would. But if it can then I'm all for it. - jeezzle, Jan 18, 2011

ah heck what would I know, I just typed in English what I was thinking in Spanish, lol - understand that if you can ja ja but it probably could be better even if it isn't out and out wrong, which is also a strong possibility! Gek?? Laz?? Helloooo - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 18, 2011

Amiga, you may want to edit category ; ). - EL_MAG0, Jan 19, 2011

Thanks A&P :) hecho! - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 19, 2011

This is one of those cases where it can go either way depending on context. Thus: "He was terribly shy; he'd never say anything to anyone" is: "Él era muy tímido, nunca le decía nada a nadie". But - - Gekkosan, Jan 19, 2011

"He knew how to be discrete: he'd never say anything to anyone" (although "tell" would be a better choice here) is: "Él sabía cómo ser discreto; nunca le diría nada a nadie". - Gekkosan, Jan 19, 2011

ok muchísimas gracias :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 19, 2011

I guess when I see "he would never say anything to anyone" I assume the second one. I don't think a shy person, in English, would be thought of as "never saying anything to anyone" but I don't know. I guess we are both right. (but mostly me ;) ) KIdding - jeezzle, Jan 19, 2011

ja ja lol, u dag! - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 19, 2011

Answer 1

Rearranged: Nunca decía nada a nadie.

New: No conoce nadie a nadie.

Bien hecho and the English? - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 18, 2011

Answer 2

. No diría nada nunca a nadie = Nunca diría nada a nadie.

well done you're off the hook lol (apart from changing my decía to diría :p ) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 18, 2011

Answer 3

Thanks for that Gekko!!

Given:

No sabes en lo que te estás metiendo, porque no sabes nada, no has visto nada, no has escuchado nada, y no has estado nunca en ninguna parte.

Well I can't think of an idiom for 'no sabes' so I'm going to improvise:

Translated:

Estás ignorante de lo que estás metiendo, porque !nada tú sabes, nada has visto, nada has escuchado y nunca has estado en ninguna parte!

I don't know why but for those short one - I want to put the personal pronoun in to give it a better rhythm - is that wrong? Would anyone say 'nada (tú) sabes' or is that just too weird?

New Sentence:

No está aquí ninguno de mis amigos.

None of my friends are here.

I thought you were meant to translate it into English. "Estás ignorante de..." is not a good start, and there are other mistakes. I'd personally find it hard modify or improve Gekko's sentence without altering its original meaning. - lazarus1907, Jan 19, 2011

"No está aquí ninguno de mis amigos" is most definitely correct, although I'd suggest "No Ninguno de mis amigos está aquí". - lazarus1907, Jan 19, 2011

I know, Gekko's sentence changed in anyway becomes horrible but that's what the practice was for, giving negative sentences in another form - ie. not starting it with 'no' - the original post is meant to contain the Spanish and English versions - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 19, 2011

- no ninguno? or no hay ninguno? I wanted to put the second one but that would make it too hard for the next person - ah this must be the dummest game yet I've invented - it was all a mistake actually, just ask Jeezle lol - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 19, 2011

Answer 4

Given: No se cansa nunca - Never tires.

Rearranged: Nunca se cansa - Never tires

New Sentence: No sabes en lo que te estás metiendo, porque no sabes nada, no has visto nada, no has escuchado nada, y no has estado nunca en ninguna parte.

I'd suggest using a synonym for "no sabes" - then it works nicely.

Gek can you shed any light on the original sentence that I started with please? Jeezle and I have been having a bit of a discussion about it as you can see at the top. :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 19, 2011

I am not going to "moderate" Gekkosan's posts: he makes less mistakes in Spanish than I do. - lazarus1907, Jan 19, 2011

lol, oh go on, it could be interesting je je - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 19, 2011

Answer 5

Given: No sé nada - I know nothing.

Rearranged: Nada sé - I know nothing.

New sentence: No se cansa nunca - Never tires.

Well done, I was wondering if 'nada yo sé' might sound a little better but it's probably quite an unusual construction either way - well done :) - - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 19, 2011

Answer 6

Given: No ha viajado nunca.

Rearranged: Nunca ha viajado.

New sentence: No sé nada. I know nothing.

hmmm tricky, this might be one of those times when a personal pronoun is allowed? to me it sounds like it'd have a better rhythm to it?? - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 19, 2011

Answer 7

Given: No conoce nadie a nadie.

Rearranged: Nadie conoce a nadie. (No-one knows anyone)

New Sentence: No ha viajado nunca. (S/He has never travelled.)