# Double negation is mandatory: no veo nada

> id: grammar.negation.double-negation · category: grammar · depth: standard · levels: A2 · review: internally_reviewed

**Summary.** A negative word after the verb requires no before it: no vino nadie, no como nunca carne. Fronting the negative drops the no: nadie vino.

Spanish uses 'negative concord': negative words reinforce each other rather than cancel out. When a negative word (nada, nadie, nunca, ninguno, tampoco) comes after the verb, you must keep no before the verb: no veo nada, no vino nadie, no como nunca carne.

Stacking several negatives is natural and still means a single negation: no le dije nada a nadie ('I didn't tell anyone anything') has three negatives and is perfectly correct.

There are two valid patterns with the same meaning: no + verb + negative (no llamó nadie), or, by fronting the negative, negative + verb with no no (nadie llamó). What's impossible is a bare post-verbal negative without no: *vino nadie is wrong.

## Examples
- No hay nada en la nevera. — There's nothing in the fridge.
- Nunca he estado en Paraguay. — I've never been to Paraguay. *(Fronted: no no needed.)*
- No hay nada ni nadie que lo detenga. — There's nothing and no one to stop him.

Related: grammar.negation.negative-words, grammar.negation.basic-no

License: CC BY-SA 4.0 — Spanish Rules Library — spanishruleslibrary.com