📖LearnModule 7 · Lesson 24 of 30Independent User · CEFR B1, completedUnit 5 · Ya no, nunca, nada, nadie
Alguien, algo — and their opposites
Module 7 of the free Spanish course (CEFR B1, completed), lesson 24 of 30: Every negative on the last three pages answers a positive. On this page: 9 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
The words
Spanish
English
Say it
alguien
somebody
AHL-gyehn
algo
something
AHL-goh
en algún lugar
somewhere
ehn ahl-GOON loo-GAR
en ningún lugar
nowhere
ehn neen-GOON loo-GAR
buscar
to look for
boos-KAR
encontrar
to find
ehn-kohn-TRAR
algunos
a few of them
ahl-GOO-nohs
alguno
some (one of them)
ahl-GOO-noh
nosotros buscamos ayuda
we looked for help
noh-SOH-trohs boos-KAH-mohs ah-YOO-dah
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
La regla · The rule
Every negative on the last three pages answers a positive, and learning them in pairs halves the work. Alguien (somebody) answers nadie. Algo (something) answers nada. En algún lugar (somewhere) answers en ningún lugar (nowhere). Alguno answers ninguno.
Y también · And also
¿Viste a alguien? — No, no vi a nadie. ¿Buscas algo? — No, no busco nada. Question and answer, two halves of one habit. Buscar spells its yo pretérito with qu to keep the k sound: busqué, buscaste, buscó. Querer has a strong pretérito: quise, quiso — no accents, stress on the stem.
Ojo · Watch out
alguien is somebody, algo is something, en algún lugar is somewhere — and each has one negative partner: nadie, nada, en ningún lugar. busqué takes qu before the é to keep the k sound — never buscé. And the strong pretérito quise carries no accent: quiso, never quisó.
buscar, pretérito — the table
yo busqué · tú buscaste · él/ella/usted buscó · nosotros buscamos · ustedes buscaron · ellos/ellas buscaron
Do it now — on paper
Say all 9 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with alguien.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write out buscar, pretérito in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.