Negation always singular

Question

Hola,

So, back in my first class, when we were learning the indefinite words (alguien, algún etc) I thought we learned that when they´re negated, they become singular

I don´t have any books -- No tengo ningún libro

Is that correct, or am I remembering this at least partly wrong? I remember pretty distinctly having to make negative indefinites into singular.

I ask because I just ran across the phrase

No tendré ningunas clases,

which would seem to violate what I (think I) learned.

If that´s vaguely understandable, could someone help me clear that up?

thanks roger

You are right, stick to the rule "when they´re negated, they become singular" and say "No tendré ninguna clase". - -cae-, May 27, 2012

thanks! - rogspax, May 27, 2012

Answer 1

"No tendré ningunas clases." I don´t know if there is a rule or not, but this sounds really weird. Never in my life have I heard a plural sentence like this in negative and apparently the RAE has never heard this either. Note their examples:

ninguno, na.

(Del lat. nec unus, ni uno).

1. adj. indef. Ni una sola de las personas o cosas significadas por el sustantivo al que acompaña. El masculino sufre apócope antepuesto al sustantivo. No había ninguna golondrina. No he tenido ningún problema. No he tenido problema ninguno. U. m. en sing.

2. pron. indef. Ni una sola de las personas o cosas significadas por el sustantivo al que representa. ¿Ha venido algún alumno? No ha venido ninguno. He probado todas las llaves y ninguna funciona.

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Thanks. I´m envious of those advanced enough to use the RAE as a reference. I can only half follow it, much less have any hope of using it for actual research. Those of us who need it the most, are least able to use it :) - rogspax, May 27, 2012

Answer 2

OK, so maybe I wasn´t totally spacing that out. I ran across the example of it in a SpanishDict lesson, so I need to go remember where that was, and maybe flag it. Somewhere in a couple lessons I´d skipped ahead to in Section 3 or 4 yesterday. How does one report that?

I looked over my text and class notes this morning, and they were pretty unequivocal about no indefinite negative plurals. Plus, I missed a couple points on a quiz once, and missing a question really sticks in my craw and head.

Ninguna clase ... ni una clase. The rule you found makes sense because we can´´t mix singular with a plural word. These are the things you miss when growing up with the language, so good find on your part! - 005faa61, May 27, 2012

Answer 3

I removed this answer after realizing that my response was incorrect. I wouldn't want someone to have bad information.

I appreciate the help nonetheless. Gracias. - rogspax, May 27, 2012