No sabes ni a quién odias
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'No pienso discutir contigo? concluyó Clevinger 'No sabes ni a quién odias.
I guess: 'I'm not going to argue with you'.....'you don't (even) know who you hate'
Later on the same page:
'¡Y ni siquiera era veneno!'exclamó...
I guess: 'it wasn't even poison'
It's the use of ni in these constructions I'm not sure about , both seem to be 'not even' yet one has 'siquiera' and the other not
Also, to me it would seem to my English ears leaving out the first 'ni' would still make the sentence understandable.
Any insights into the use of 'ni' gratefully received.
15 Answers
I would just make a small change. "No sabes ni a quien odias" is more like "You don't even know who you hate." Putting the verv in inifinitive, like you did, changes the meaning a little bit.
I think all the rest is perfect.
lazarus1907 said:
Natasha said:
Yes, Lazarus, a couple of your awesome examples would really help here . . . but of course you would not want to give away too many of your secrets
Well, in English you normally put it between the "don't" and the verb:I don't even know how to help you.The car doesn't even have four doors.but in Spanish is more flexible:(Yo) ni siquiera sé cómo ayudarte.Ni siquiera yo sé cómo ayudarte.No sé ni siquiera cómo ayudarte.That's what I meant by placement.
Thanks amo/maestro what I was really after was the use of siquiera....in the examples you gave could siquiera be left out -and if it was would it change any nuance of meaning'
lazarus1907 said:
Natasha said:
Yes, Lazarus, a couple of your awesome examples would really help here . . . but of course you would not want to give away too many of your secrets
Well, in English you normally put it between the "don't" and the verb:I don't even know how to help you.The car doesn't even have four doors.but in Spanish is more flexible:(Yo) ni siquiera sé cómo ayudarte.Ni siquiera yo sé cómo ayudarte.No sé ni siquiera cómo ayudarte.That's what I meant by placement.
Thank you, much clearer!
Natasha said:
Yes, Lazarus, a couple of your awesome examples would really help here . . . but of course you would not want to give away too many of your secrets
Well, in English you normally put it between the "don't" and the verb:
I don't even know how to help you.
The car doesn't even have four doors.
but in Spanish is more flexible:
(Yo) ni siquiera sé cómo ayudarte.
Ni siquiera yo sé cómo ayudarte.
No sé ni siquiera cómo ayudarte.
That's what I meant by placement.
tad said:
lazarus1907 said:
ni siquiera = not evenThe difference is the placement of the words on the sentence.
Thanks everyone -although Lazarus' last comment was a little cryptic!
Yes, Lazarus, a couple of your awesome examples would really help here . . . but of course you would not want to give away too many of your secrets 
lazarus1907 said:
ni siquiera = not even
The difference is the placement of the words on the sentence.
Thanks everyone -although Lazarus' last comment was a little cryptic!
ni siquiera = not even
The difference is the placement of the words on the sentence.
lazarus1907 said:
tad said:
and likewise would '¡Y ni era veneno!'exclamó... (that just doesn't even look right...but I'm not sure why.
It looks right to me: "and it wasn't even poison!".
So ni siquiera is further (optional) emphasis then'
tad said:
and likewise would '¡Y ni era veneno!'exclamó... (that just doesn't even look right...but I'm not sure why.
It looks right to me: "and it wasn't even poison!".
Heidita said:
No sabes ni a quién odias. You don't even know who you hate.
No sabes a quién odias.
You don't know who you hate.
Ah, OK thats kind of what I thought, but in the second example siquiera is used too
so would 'No sabes ni siquiera a quién odias.' make sense, change the meaning, be wrong...?
and likewise would '¡Y ni era veneno!'exclamó... (that just doesn't even look right...but I'm not sure why.
lazarus1907 said:
Guillermo said:
I would just make a small change. "No sabes ni a quien odias" is more like "You don't even know who you hate."
But don't forget the accent on "quién".
Blame it to my English keyboard. I'm so used to not putting the tildes. I had to change this to write in this forum, but sometimes I just forget.
No sabes ni a quién odias.
You don't even know who you hate.
No sabes a quién odias.
You don't know who you hate.
Guillermo said:
I would just make a small change. "No sabes ni a quien odias" is more like "You don't even know who you hate."
But don't forget the accent on "quién".
Thanks Guillermo, I've changed the original (I did mean to put that ...honest)
...so if ni was left out, would it be wrong'
