📖LearnModule 7 · Lesson 25 of 30Independent User · CEFR B1, completedUnit 5 · Ya no, nunca, nada, nadie
Negation in the past
Module 7 of the free Spanish course (CEFR B1, completed), lesson 25 of 30: The negative family keeps its places in every past tense: no comí nada (I ate nothing). On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
The words
Spanish
English
Say it
no comí nada
I did not eat anything
noh koh-MEE NAH-dah
no dijimos nada
we said nothing
noh dee-HEE-mohs NAH-dah
no vi a nadie
I saw nobody
noh bee ah NAH-dyeh
no fue a ningún lugar
he went nowhere
noh fweh ah neen-GOON loo-GAR
el pretérito
the preterite (the simple past)
ehl preh-TEH-ree-toh
la excepción
the exception
lah ehk-sehp-SYOHN
en voz alta
aloud
ehn bohs AHL-tah
nunca he estado allí
I have never been there
NOON-kah eh ehs-TAH-doh ah-YEE
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
The negative family keeps its places in every past tense: no comí nada (I ate nothing), no vi a nadie (I saw nobody), no fue a ningún lugar (he went nowhere), nunca he estado allí (I have never been there). No before the verb, the negative word after it.
Y también · And also
The one thing that moves is the verb itself, and the pretérito perfecto (he estado) keeps its two words together: nunca he estado, never he nunca estado. Say the four sentences aloud until the rhythm is automatic — the rule will not warn you.
Ojo · Watch out
The pretérito perfecto keeps its two words together inside a negative: nunca he estado allí, no he visto nada. Never he nunca estado, never he nada visto.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with no comí nada.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write two sentences of your own that get the watch-out line right, then the two practice pages of workbook lesson 25 in Module 7 are the written half of this page.
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.