negative responses

Question

Hola,

For homework in our spanish class we need to respond negatively to a set of questions and I want to make sure I'm doing this correctly. Here's one of the questions to show you what I mean:

Q: ¿Quieres siempre algo? A: no, no quiero nunca nada

So he wants us to flip the wording negatively: todo (everything) >< nada (nothing), siempre (always) >< nunca (never). I doubt you would actually respond to a question this way but he wants us to do it for practice with the words.

Here's some of the questions I'm struggling with:

Q: ¿Tienes que comprar siempre algo en el super mercado para los amigos de Pavel?

Q: ¿Puedes servir la paella caliente a Maren en la playa valenciana?

Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi and welcome to the forum. Upon reading your directions and how the teacher wants you to replace certain words, I would say:

Q: ¿Quieres siempre algo? A: no, no quiero nada nunca.

You said no 4 times in one sentence: that's a bit much even for Spanish. - lorenzo9, Mar 13, 2011

I personally would not have said it this way, but given the instructions by her teacher I think she needs to put all of it in negative terms. - --Mariana--, Mar 13, 2011

I guess it's a matter of opinion what negation means, but to go from "you always want something" to "you never want anyhting ever" is a bit strong to me. Peace :) - lorenzo9, Mar 13, 2011

Answer 2

In English, the opposite of "You always want something" is "No, I don't always want something", not "I don't ever want anything ever", "I always want nothing", or "I never want anything".

Answer 3

In this case:

Q: ¿Quieres siempre algo? A: no, nunca quiero nada.

Q: ¿Tienes que comprar siempre algo en el super mercado para los amigos de Pavel?

Nunca tengo que comprar nada en el supermercado para los amigos de Pavel.

This last one I' leave it for you. OK?

Q: ¿Puedes servir la paella caliente a Maren en la playa valenciana?

Please note supermercado is together....

Edit:as per instructions.

I disagree with this answer. I think your two "algo" should be "nada," especially given the instructions by the teacher. - --Mariana--, Mar 13, 2011

correct, I didn't read thoroughly... sorry. - chileno, Mar 13, 2011