Nunca and no...nunca with pronouns

Question

Hola Team Kwiziq,Is it incorrect to place the No in a  No...nunca construction before the pronoun? I notice that one can say "No comes chocolate nunca" which made me believe that the no is always at the beginning of the sentence. However "No nostotros te mentiríamos nunca" was incorrect and so was "No él estuvo intersesado".  I am guessing that no can be in front of a verb where the pronoun is implied (comes) but not in front of an  explicit subject pronoun (tú comes). Is this correct? Can you elaborate?

Answer

Hola Myss T.
Thank you for your question!
The placement of "no" and "nunca" in a sentence can indeed be confusing, especially when pronouns and subject pronouns are involved. Generally, "no" is placed at the beginning of the sentence, directly before the verb it negates. For example, in "No comes chocolate nunca", "no" negates the verb "comes" and "nunca" further emphasizes that negation. This structure is common when no explicit subject pronoun (like "tú") is mentioned at the start.
However, when an explicit subject pronoun is included, such as "nosotros" or "él", the "no" still needs to precede the verb, not the pronoun. So, in the case of "Nosotros no te mentiríamos nunca", the subject pronoun "nosotros" comes first, but the "no" still goes directly before the verb "mentiríamos" to properly negate the action.
In contrast, the sentences "No nosotros te mentiríamos nunca" and "No él estuvo interesado" are incorrect because "no" must directly precede the verb it is negating, not the subject pronoun. The correct versions would be "Nosotros no te mentiríamos nunca" and "Él no estuvo interesado".
In summary, "no" always goes right before the verb to negate it, even when an explicit subject pronoun is present. I hope this clears up the confusion! Feel free to ask if you need further clarification.
Un saludo
Silvia

Answer

Muchas gracias!