Negatives throughout a sentence.

Question

I'm remembering something from a long time back, most probably I'm misremembering it.

I had thought that if you wanted to put a negative in a sentence, you put it throughout the sentence. Looking back at the word of the day (which for me is usually "several words in one day"), I noticed this phrase

no había remedio alguno para su enfermedad.

I'm wondering why alguno is not ninguno.

Welcome to the forum! I edited your heading for a spelling correction. - rac1, Feb 25, 2013

Answer 1

There are various word orders we can use depending on the emphasis and nuance wanted, ie:

No había remedio de ninguno para su enfermedad.

No había ningún remedio para su enfermedad.

No había ni un remedio para su enfermedad.

No había ni siquiera un remedio para su enfermedad.

The subject must have a negative connotation to correspond with the verb in negative, so by using "alguno" with no negative in a negative senetnce is not correct.

Thanks for the examples. - rogspax, Feb 25, 2013

I'm disagreeing, sorry. I've added a few links to my post. - BigMike, Feb 25, 2013

Answer 2

My two cents:

When following a noun, alguno has a very emphatic negative connotation, more emphatic even than that of ninguno following the noun, which is in turn, a more emphatic negation than that of ninguno preceding the noun. There are thus three grades of negative emphasis possible in the use of ninguno/alguno.

no book - ningún libro

no book - libro ninguno

libro alguno - no book at all

from; Español Contemporáneo by George De Mello

Answer 3

You can use "alguno" instead of "ninguno" if you want to be even more emphatic (like saying there wasn't any cure at all instead of just any cure), and it's correct, but yes, the general way to say it would be to continue the negative. I respectfully disagree with the assertion that "alguno" is incorrect. Here is a link,sorry I couldn't get the link thing to work: [1]: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1399783 And another: http://forodeespanol.com/Archive/AlgunaONinguna/kxdk/post.htm

Interesting, we were taught that that wasn´t possible at all. Of course, I recognize coursework and real life don´t always correspond, if at all. - rogspax, Feb 25, 2013

We learned to add para nada for emphasis. - rogspax, Feb 25, 2013

Roger, that´s right. Adding "para nada" is a good emphasis, but the sentence must still have a negative verb and negative subject - 005faa61, Feb 25, 2013

Good, that at least squares with what I was taught. And speaking of emphatic, my profesora was pretty emphatic about that one. That´s why alguno as an option took me by surprise. - rogspax, Feb 25, 2013

thanks for the links. Ill read it all over when i get to a screen bigger than my phone. - rogspax, Feb 26, 2013

Answer 4

i agree with juilanchivi

Answer 5

No había ni un remedio para su enfermedad.

No había ni siquiera un remedio para su enfermedad.

So, I guess those last two would both be vaguely;

¨There wasn´t even one remedy...¨

I wouldn´t have known either of those,but they look like good ones to learn.

thanks roger

Answer 6

Yes, your recollection is correct. I´m not sure the word order quite optimal there either (though as a learner myself, I´ve thought that before, and then been wrong)

I might try.

No había ningún remedio para su enfermedad.

The other thing worth noting in Spanish negations, that even if the question was in plural, any negative has to take the singular.

Hay algunas chicas bonitas en esta cervezería?

No, no hay ningúna chica en este bar estupido.