Spanish word

no

Pronunciation

IPA/no/

Meaning

  • adverbnot

Example

Yo no quiero ir al cine.

I don't want to go to the movies.

Illustration for no (not)

More examples

No puedo venir hoy.

I can't come today.

Core concept

Brief negative reply and sentence negator used before verbs.

Common phrases

  • no lo sé

    don't know

  • no puedo

    can't

  • no hay

    There isn't

Similar words

tampoco: Expresses agreement with a previous negative, indicating not either.
nunca: Indicates that an action or state does not happen even once.
jamás: Expresses an emphatic never, denying occurrence in any circumstance.

Definition in Spanish

Introduce negación en una frase, colocándose normalmente delante del verbo, y que también funciona como interjección para responder negativamente.

Word origin

Originally from Latin non, the word reduces to no in medieval Iberia and enters modern Spanish with the same basic negative sense.

Usage tips

  • Spanish uses negative concord, so no commonly appears with negative words like nada or nunca rather than being canceled by them.

Other meanings

  • nointerjection
  • nopeinterjection

Opposites

Word lists with this word