If you’ve just started to learn the Spanish language, one of the first doubts you might have is how we say “don’t” or “do not” in Spanish.
These words are fundamental parts of our own language, English, so it’s normal that we’d want to know how to translate them into Spanish.
Let’s take a look at how to do it…
DO NOT and DON’T in Spanish
This is really simple, you’ll be pleased to know. Check out these examples:
- Yo no hablo español.
I don’t speak Spanish. - Yo no estudio.
I don’t study.
Yep, the Spanish word for ‘don’t’ is plain old ‘no’.
DO NOT -> NO
DON’T -> NO
What about DOESN’T?
Spanish also uses the word ‘no’ for the English “does not” and “doesn’t“.
Need a bit more convincing?
Let’s do some conjugating. Here’s how to form negative sentences in the Spanish present tense. We’ve taken the verb ‘Hablar’ (to speak) as an example. Notice how ‘no’ is used for every person?:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Yo no hablo | I don’t speak |
| Tú no hablas | You don’t speak |
| Él / Ella no habla | He/She/It doesn’t speak |
| Nosotros no hablamos | We don’t speak |
| Vosotros no habláis | You don’t speak |
| Ellos / Ellas no hablan | They don’t speak |
Spanish verb conjugation
To learn more about verb conjugation in Spanish take a look at our classes on Spanish verbs and the Spanish present tense.
Basic Spanish Course
In our basic Spanish course you’ll learn all the essential Spanish you need for simple day-to-day interactions. The course includes hundreds of really useful examples and loads of audio files for you to listen to. For a full list of all our content, visit the Hablarama home page.
