No before the verb

One rule

To make a sentence negative (to say something is not true), put no directly before the verb. That's all: Spanish has no extra word like English don't or doesn't.

• No soy de aquí.I'm not from here.
• No tengo coche.I don't have a car.
• No hay agua caliente.There's no hot water.
• No tenemos tiempo.We don't have time.

With a subject

If there is a subject (a name or a pronoun), no goes after the subject and before the verb:

• Ana no es profesora.Ana isn't a teacher.
• Los niños no están en casa.The children aren't at home.
• Yo no estoy cansado.I'm not tired.

Answering "No, I'm not"

In an answer you often hear no twice. The first no answers the question; the second makes the verb negative:

• ¿Eres inglés? No, no soy inglés, soy irlandés.Are you English? No, I'm not English, I'm Irish.

The opposite, yes, is sí with an accent. Without the accent, si means "if".

• ¿Tienes hermanos? Sí, tengo una hermana.Do you have any brothers or sisters? Yes, I have a sister.

Dropping un and una

After no tengo and no hay, Spanish usually drops un/una with things people normally have just one of, and with things like bread, milk or water: No tengo coche, No hay pan. With un the sentence isn't wrong, but it can stress "not a single one".

Later you'll combine no with nada, nadie, nunca (nada, nadie, nunca: the double negative) and learn tampoco (también and tampoco; a mí también / a mí tampoco).

Common mistakes

• Soy no de aquí → No soy de aquí. No goes before the verb, not after.
• Yo tengo no hijos → Yo no tengo hijos.
• No, soy no → No, no soy… (or just No).
• No hago tener coche → No tengo coche. There is no Spanish "do" in negatives.
• Si, tengo coche → Sí, with an accent, for yes.