The negative of adjective
Hola amigos,
I wonder if I can use no before an adjective? I mean, if I want to say Tha door is not open, do I say La puerta está no abierta? Of course I don't mean to say the door is closed.
Hola otra vez!
According to your answers to say I am happy but not rich, looks like EStoy feliz pero no estoy rico and not Estoy feliz pero no rico
Muchos saludos
4 Answers
You can use no before adjectives, however, to say non- in English.
As the equivalent of "non-" before some nouns and adjectives: Many words use prefixes as a way of making them into the opposite; for example, the opposite of prudente (careful) is imprudente (careless). But some words are preceded by no instead.
Creo en la no violencia. (I believe in nonviolence.) Humo pasivo puede matar a los no fumadores. (Secondhand smoke can kill nonsmokers.) El pólipo es no maligno. (The polyp is nonmalignant.)
So how does Spanish say unopened (can of beer?) [sin abrir...thought you had it, didn't you?]
I wonder if I can use no before an adjective?
Yes...but not quite in the way that you have described. For example, it might not be altogether strange to see something like:
—La puerta está cerrada, no abierta. ? The door is closed, not open.
What you have to realize, in this case however, is that we are dealing with a parallel construction in which the verb has been elided (omitted). What the sentence is actually saying is that
—La puerta está cerrada, no (está) abierta. ? The door is closed; (it's) not open.
We often find this type of construction in cases in which we wish to highlight a contrast of some sort.
Here is another example that you might find helpful:
La historia de los 8 años de gobierno kirchnerista evidencian que la hegemonía lograda por el oficialismo, en buena medida, se logra por la profundización del modelo hegemónico cerrado, no abierto al diálogo con el resto de las fuerzas de la oposición.
The eight year history of the Kirchner government shows that the hegemony achieved by the ruling class, in good part, is achieved by the intensification of the closed rule model, not open to dialog with the remains of the opposition forces
Again, the author places these two somewhat parallel ideas in apposition but this time in order to highlight the nature in which "the model of governance" is closed, i.e. it is not open to talks with the opposition:
...el model hegemónico cerrado, (un modelo que) no (está) abierto al diálogo ? ...the closed rule model, (a model that is) not open to dialog
As qfreed has already mentioned, a slightly different type of negation occurs when "single" words are formed by placing the word "no" before certain adjective or nouns. In this case, the use of "no" is often a bit more analogous to the prefixation we see as it occurs with words such as
?sinvergüenza ? without shame; shameless
?sinnúmero ? without number; countless
As the referenced article points out, we often see this in places where English might use a "non-adjective" or "non-noun" prefixation scheme. This is often very common with the use of certain neologisms:
?no fumador ? one who is not a smoker; a non-smoker
?no agresión ? Lack of intention to show aggression against a foreign government or nation; non-aggression
?no proliferación ? providing for the stoppage of proliferation (especially in regards to nuclear weapons); non-proliferation
? no lucrativo ? that is not done for profit; non-profit
On the other hand, such a construction does not necessarily imply that all such usages lend themselves to the formulaic "non-noun/adjective" translation.
?no responsibilidad ? the quality or state of not being responsible; Claiming no responsibility for something; a disclaimer
While it might be possible to use a term like "non-responsibility," it would probably be much more intuitive to avoid such an expression in favor of the more common word, "disclaimer."
Likewise, the prefix "non" is not sufficient in and of itself to predict whether or not it might be common to construct an expression in this manner:
?Nonsense ? no sentido tonterías
In this case you have to put it before the verb 
La puerta no está abierta.
That's incorrect,
Correct: "La puerta no está abierta"
That is the only way that the sentence would be correct
Good Luck Learning!
