I do not have any Spanish friend. This is not just me being misogynist. The fact is that only masculine singular indefinite adjectives and pronouns have this duality, so you will only have a little headache with these four.
Do you have any Mexican girl friend? No girl came. Alguno — Any male, pronoun. Ninguno — Not any male, pronoun. Alguna — Any female, either adjective or pronoun. Ninguna — Not any female, either adjective or pronoun. As it happens with every indefinite adjective and pronoun, the one starting with n- is the negative counterpart of the duo. These two words are exclusively pronouns , which means they will always appear by themselves.
They will be always referring to a person, any unspecified person, but they will never accept a noun with them:. Is anyone there? There is no one here. Remember that when a negative indefinite starts the sentence, you are not allowed to use no any longer:. Nadie me quiere. The last couple of indefinites in this post are algo and nada. They are similar to alguien and nadie in that they can only be pronouns and one nada is the negative equivalent of the other one algo.
However, just as alguien and nadie can only refer to unspecific people, algo and nada can only refer to unspecific objects. Necesito algo para beber. I need something to drink—and I do not mind if it is water, wine, juice or coffee. Nada te parece bien. Nothing seems OK to you. If you bear in mind Spanish makes adjectives and pronouns agree with the noun they refer to and that a negative indefinite at the beginning of a sentence does not allow no to appear in said sentence, you will not have any problem with this topic.
The amazing thing about indefinite adjectives and pronouns is that they can refer to everything and everybody. Do not forget that masculine singular adjectives add an extra -o when they transform into pronouns.
Other than that, I am sure you are ready to be a master of Spanish indefinites. In Spanish, nada nothing, anything can be used with a negative verb. Nada can also be used to emphasize something, meaning at all. This situation is not easy to solve at all. Build vocabulary, practice pronunciation, and more with Transparent Language Online.
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Thank you! Please check your inbox for your confirmation email. I never see anybody either. The key here is that nadie sounds so much like nada.
And they even have almost similar translations except that nada is about things and nadie is about people.
Just remember that nadie is nada with an I in it and I am a person , so nadie is to be used for people. Another hint is the rhyme between the -di- in nadie and -dy in nobody. But just like Nadie can also be anybody when the sentence implies nobody , nunca can also mean ever when the sentence implies never. Let the following contextual examples illustrate what I just said: No compro nada nunca.
Nunca te he visto estudiando. I have never seen you studying. Memorizing this word is no pain at all. There are way too many mnemonic ideas you can come up with to nail it. One that I can think of just off the top of my head right now is to think of a nun and how she can never marry.
Or have sex. Or pretty much do anything fun. The nun- in nunca will always remind you of the things she can never do! So how does one decide which one to use where?
I would say do what most natives do and go with nunca in regular conversations; the two words are practically interchangeable. The word kinda rhymes with pa jamas — PJs or jammies , if you will. Use this connection! Would you ever go to work in your jammies? No matter what! So, can a nun marry?
Never , unless she quits being a nun. Would you go to work in your jammies? Never , not even if your HR allowed it. This simple mnemonic should help you remember both words and their difference in emphasis.
Double negatives Ever noticed how certain English speakers, especially those from certain socio-economic backgrounds, use two negatives in the same sentence? Remember when I said nada means nothing but can also mean anything when the sentence implies nothing? Well, now you know what I meant. See for yourself: No tengo nada. The above sentence can be translated with both nothing and anything: I have nothing.
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