Una Palabra Sola Episode 18, no
“No” isn’t just a full sentence or a Shakira song – it's a multi-faceted adverb in Spanish.
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no: (adv) not any, denial, negation
Synonyms: negar (to negate), rehusar (turn down, deny), rechazar (reject), echar (throw out)
Antonyms: sí (yes), todo, toda (everything), bastante (enough), absolutamente (absolutely), ciertamente (certainly)
From the Latin “non”, Olde English, “nay”
“The best work
is the work you are excited about.”
For reflection:
What season are you in? How do you know?
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When you sit in silence, how are you feeling about your life personally, emotionally, creatively, relationship-wise?
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What would you edit? How? Be sure you’re not entering the critic role here...
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TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
Hola y bienvenidos, hello and welcome to Una Palabra Sola, where we get to learn Spanish one word at a time. I'm your host Megan Miller, founder and teacher at Aprovechar Language Solutions. Empezamos and let's dive in. Hola hola, mis amados oyentes, bienvenidos a la segunda temporada de este show. Hello, and welcome back to the second season of Una Palabra Sola, the place to be if you want to learn Spanish una palabra a la vez, one word at a time.
Second season, new year, dos mil veinticuatro, if you're listening to this live. I hope everyone has had a good holiday break, back, better than ever. And if you're not, if you're riding or driving the struggle bus, that's okay too. You're here and that is all that matters. Because today our word is, it's a little cheat because it's the same in Spanish and English. It's no. No, N O. In English, we like to kind of savor that N a little bit and say nooo. In Spanish, it's a little bit more direct of a no, no. It really depends how much you want to open your throat and open your mouth. It depends how emphatic you want to be with your no.
1:39
And the wonderful thing about no in Spanish es un adverbio. It is an adverb. It means the same thing. So, starting the year off pretty easy. Easy with our no. And, the definition is not any. It can also be a denial. I did not have sexual relations with that woman. It can be a negation. He is not the father of my child.
Whatever, however you want. I know we skipped around a lot from Bill Clinton to Maury there, but… How it is used. So, es un adverbio, right? It hangs around with verbs. And usually with adverbs, they stay pretty close to that verb. With no, it goes to the beginning of the verb. So, no hay. So, there's not, or there are no, if your subject is plural.
No hay. No tiene, no hace, they don't have, or she doesn't have. No hace, no hace buen tiempo. Right, we're in the middle of winter here, so it's not good weather. No me gusta, right, these are all statements and that “no” is in between. And so, a thing to kind of, little grammar point of no is that it always goes in front of the verb phrase. So if your verb is multiple words like for example te amo or me gusta or… yeah, those are the only two examples I can think of. It goes before that pesky object of me or te. So, no te amo. Getting real in there. Uh, no te amo. I don't love you. Or, no me gusta. I don't like. So, in English, there's that contraction of don't.
And in Spanish, it's a little bit easier to think of the no just negating that verb. You can also have your negative commands, like, for example, a negative tú command is in the subjunctive of no pongas, no tengas, no hagas; versus your usted or ustedes command that is also in the subjunctive of no ponga, no tenga, no haga, no hagan, no hagáis, if you are in Spain and use vosotros.
In English, two negatives make a positive, right? Ain't that the truth? In Spanish, we love negatives. So the negative is a negative is a negative… not to be too negative. No hay nadie. Sebastián Yatra has a song, “No hay nadie más”. Literally translated, there’s not anyone more. In Spanish, it’s just “there’s no one else”.
No hay nadie más. No hay nada. No hay nada, no tiene nada que ver con ese asunto. They don't have anything to do with it. So the no and the nada, no, nadie; it really depends if it is nothing, if it is nada, or if it is no one, nadie. When we translate that, no hay nadie, we would translate that no one to anyone.
5:11
There's not anyone. Same with nada. No hay nada, no tiene nada que ver. That nothing gets translated to anything. It's just a little linguistic trick that we do. If you are also a nerd and you love reading newspapers like I do, this is very popular in newspapers and just reporting in general where sometimes they'll use it to negate the adjective or a name.
Meaning, for example, “rumores no confirmados”. Not confirmed or unconfirmed rumors, you know, things like that. So, it is an adverb, it usually stays with your verbs, but sometimes you can hear it and see it around adjectives and names, sustantivos, nouns, things like that.
A quick grammar lesson for any of those lucky souls who have forgotten. Your sustantivo, your noun, that's your person, place, or thing. Your adjetivo, your adjective, that describes your noun. Your verb is your action. Your no, your adverb, hangs around with that verb and it tells that verb how to be… similar to a bossy older child.
Etymology, it is from Latin non. If you have any kind of French background the non in French is very similar to no in Spanish. When I went on etymologydictionary.com, so super useful; it also had a, and this just made me smile, it had a thing from Old English of nay. Nay. Nay, one lassie won't find you. I don't know. So, your sinónimos, your synonyms of no. These are all verbs. There really wasn't much. I mean, you, you do have nada, you do have nadie, you do have, for the adjetivo, ningún, ninguna. You also have the verb negar, which is just to negate. Rehusar. Danny Ocean has a wonderful song, “Me rehusó”… it sounds happier than what it is, because rehusar means to deny or turn down, and it's all about how this chick turned him down. You also have rechazar, which is one of my favorites. I think it's just because of the ch, rechazar, no me rechezes; I don’t know, that just means to reject. So that can be as angry or sad as you want it to be. And then you also have echar. Echar is like to throw out. But I just stuck it on the synonyms list because it was similar enough. It made me think: no, echar. Demi Lovato tried to be Latina with Luis Fonsi and Échame la culpa. It's an okay song. I'm very judgmental today. I'm sorry. You might listen to it and love it, and if so, it is a wonderful song. You might listen to it and hate it; in which case I have other song recommendations.
8:33
Antónimos. The first one, of course, is sí. And then sí con acento, con tilde, some people call it. That is sí with a little accent hat on it because without it, si, just si, just means if. So sí with the accent means yes, no, yes, a yin, a yang, here we go. Todo, todo is also a good antonym, means everything. You can have bastante, which is, I covered this earlier in temporada una, which is enough. Absolutamente, which is like absolutely. With that, you also have ciertamente, certainly. Certainly, absolutely. Once again, that MENTE is that LY suffix in English.
Some related words. So these are the usos de mi Diccionario de María Moliner, a que no, si no, que no, que no, and a que no are usually used more in español culto. It just, the que just links whatever it is negating. Without going into a 20-minute grammar lesson, which would put all of us to sleep, I'm going to leave it at that and say, if that interests you, definitely check it out. It can also be just another exclamation, right? You hear bad news, que no, right? You're feeling that bad news.
Si, no. Remember that si without your accent, that is if. So, si no is if not. It's also used as a question tag and this, it sounds like a skin condition, a question tag, but it's not. You see it a lot -I see it a lot personally, not in America, because we are very sure of everything that we say. But that question tag is when you have your statement and then you have a, no? We're ready to go now, no? It's wonderful. It's so subtle, I think. That is your question tag of, I guess if you want to be passive aggressive or European, you can use that question tag of no.
11:03
And why is no in my head? Well, let me tell you, I have here. The Creative Act, A Way of Being. Wonderful book. Shout out to Chef Carla Contreras. Follow her on Instagram at Chef Carla Contreras and on Substack at Nourishing Creativity. She gave me this book. It literally just popped into my mailbox one day. The Creative Act, A Way of Being. That wasn't like a paid thing. She's just amazing. And this no really came about because, well, let me read you a passage here.
So the first quote, “the best work is the work you are excited about”. And so I have to ask you, when was the last time you were excited about work? I always think of work as the, I guess it's a physics definition of like effort. Like anything that takes effort. So in this book he talks about the editor.
“The editor is required to set ego aside. Ego, pridefully, attaches to individual elements of work. The editor's role is to remain unattached and see beyond these passions to find unity and balance. Talented artists who are unskilled editors can do subpar work and fail to live up to their gift's promise.
Avoid confusing the editor's cold detachment with the inner critic. The critic doubts the work, undermines it, zooms in, and picks it apart. The editor steps back, views the work holistically, and supports its full potential.” Well, bam! There we go! So, at the beginning of the year, everyone is either pell-mell into creating resolutions and creating this ideal life, or they're so anti-resolution that there's nothing there.
13:08
And It's tricky, right? At the beginning of every year, at the beginning of every month, at the beginning of every week, quite honestly, it's useful to take stock to edit, without being a critic. So, I've been going through kind of a slow, quiet, wintering phase myself. No tengo ganas. I just, I don't have the fucks to give. I don't have the wish, I don't have the desire to go and go after this big ideal life, right? And that's okay. Because this is a season. This editing action, this is something that you can do at the start of any time you feel a seasonal shift. And the season is not like a whomping willow of season shifts.
This can really depend on your day, on your month, on your week, on how you, your life is. These seasons of work, of family, of community, of creativity, of art, of outdoors; of falling asleep in the bathtub because you're introverting so hard. Not like I'm speaking from experience. This editing is something that is just, it's a constant, continuous thing. Life doesn't come with a rest stop. It doesn't come with breaks. You can't push a pause button. You can't mute something and expect life to stay static. It's not static. It changes every day, every moment, every week, every month, every year.
15:04
And with every no comes a yes. So, in my quiet, wintering moments, I've been doing a lot of yoga, because homegirl needs to stretch, and I like to think of no as like a yoga pose, or a squat. Ironic that I equivalate exercise with no, but hear me out. Maybe you don't do the full stretch, right? Maybe you don't do the full I don't even know what CrossFit Gymnastics names there are, but maybe you don't do the full Downward Dog, or Camel Pose, and whatnot, you just say no, and then you can sit deeper into your pose, into your current, just, way of being at that moment, without worrying about dragon breathing, or shaking, or, oh my god, when is this pose going to end, because that was me Sunday. I just can't fucking stop. I need more no in my life.
So, every no comes a yes, right? There's that shadow side. When you say no to something. Losing a client. Losing a project. Losing a promotion. Losing I don't know. Your kid didn't make the baseball team this year. Great! Think of all that time that you now have. Think of all of that focus that you now have. Think of where your energy can be used elsewhere. When we hear bad news, we tend to focus on the negative. On what that falta of something means, right? What that lack of something, that negation. And instead of that, maybe we should be looking through the flip side.
Oh, I just lost, I don't know. A client. I just lost a project. Okay. There's space now. There's space to do something else. Not only with work, but maybe with life, with creativity, with art. So, these seasons, these editing actions, it's something that you can kind of dive into and then come out of. I'm thinking of an ocean wave. It's something that you can be entranced with for a moment, and then you can continue on with your life. How are you checking in? How are you personally, emotionally, mentally, physically? How's your eating? Are you drinking enough water? Are you exercising? And hey, these are just questions. I don't judge. And then, how's your connection? How's your community? How's your family? How's your friends? How are your relationships? How do you relate to the world around you? And, how's your job? Whatever job that is. Whether that you are working for yourself, or you're working for someone else, or you're doing both. There are a lot of people that do both. How is that?
18:34
And when you go through and you kind of edit and you say, well generally, speaking from my experience, two are great and one is shit. That's always like, it's a piston. Where, work can be great, and, I don't know, marriage can be great, and my health is shit. Or, health is great, work is great, marriage is shit. Or, marriage is great, work is great, and, I forget the third one already, that's shit. So, when you think about your seasons, you can kind of think about where you edit. And this is a slow, this is a languorous thing, because this is where you can decide, look at the whole picture, holistically, as Rick Rubin says.
And once you read this book, you will picture him exactly how he is, which was funny to me. But that edit can be as simple as cleaning out a closet, or habit stacking. OK, I want to do this one thing, what does that mean? It can also be changing your habit trigger. So, for example, I wanted to take more uniform breaks during the day. And it's hard for me once I start a break to come back to work, unless something is calling me, um, physically on the phone. So, I set alarms. And I don't usually use alarms for my habit triggers, I usually like visual reminders, but I just set alarms in my phone, so it just kind of buzzes three times a day, and it buzzes to say, hey, time to get back to work, three times a day. And that is my habit trigger. You can also habit stack.
Meaning, okay, you go downstairs, you make your breakfast every day. You may go into your kitchen, and maybe you want to be eating more vegetables. Put your vegetables on a shelf that is closer to your eye height, so that you see it. Habit stacking is also, okay, when I take the dog out in the morning, I'm going to do a loop in the neighborhood. A walk around the block. 5, 10 minutes. Whatever that habit is. Oh, and this is a Spanish podcast, so I should probably give you a Spanish one.
21:10
When you edit things and you're like, oh, I really want to focus on Spanish this year. Maybe that is having a list of activities, and you think of new activities once a month. And you have your list, and maybe one list takes two minutes, and one list takes five minutes, or one list takes 30 minutes, and you pick something from your list every day. Or maybe you’re habit stacking, and you always eat dinner on the couch. And when you go to flip on the TV, you turn to something in a Spanish show, or with Spanish subtitles, or you have your morning cup of coffee and you read your newspaper and you read one paragraph or one article in Spanish.
This is both a combination of habit stacking and you can also change your habit trigger. Maybe you wanted to practice Spanish, but you just kind of forgot about it. Like, you didn't really have anything in your face going, hey, we should practice right now. So maybe that is an alarm on your phone. Maybe that is 30 minutes blocked out on your calendar at lunchtime every day, where you take a walk around the block and listen to something in Spanish, or better yet, practice speaking in Spanish.
22:36
So, this editing, this, I guess, transition point, it's important to know where you are, it's important to know where you want to go, right? That is the whole coaching phenomenon right there, is figuring out where you are, where you want to be, and then helping you get there.
But it's also important to realize and accept where you are right now. Where can you have a no? Where do you want to say no? And can you? Do you feel like you can consciously say no? Or is there a compromise? Let's say this year, you're looking at changing jobs, or changing industry, or changing companies. And so you might want to go to your boss right now and say no. I quit. Write it on a post it. Or, is it as simple as unsubscribing to a newsletter? I know I send out quite a few every week. So, is it important to protect your mental health, protect your expectations that people are sending you things and they want you to read them? Where is that no? Or is it a compromise?
Do you not really enjoy family functions? So, you can drive separately to have some time to yourself before or after, or if you don't like, or don't enjoy, or delete the account for whatever it is that you're surrounding yourself with, whether that is TV, or music, or movies, or books. You can have a no-spend weekend. You can have a no-screen evening. And it's really about knowing yourself and knowing where those habits are. For example, I'm a huge fan of Solitaire while the TV is just going. And for movie nights with my husband, because I want to be present, I stick my phone in the other room. And it is way across the other side of the house; not like we live in a huge house, but it is an obstacle enough to where I can be like, nope, I'm going to stay here. I'm going to stay present. Maybe it's, you know, a no spend weekend. If you are constantly inundated with material things, maybe it's time to clean something out.
25:12
Maybe it's time to stop buying something and instead figure out what it is that you want out of that. Are we buying because we want to feel a certain way? Usually yes. Are we scrolling because we want to feel a certain way? Usually yes. Are we forgetting to do something because it's not the fuck in front of our face? Yes. Quite honestly, we run so much of our lives on habit, on autopilot. And it's all about finding out what triggers yours, and if you'd like to keep it or not. Those are just a few examples of little edits, or self-reflection, or little pieces to make it so that you're living the life that you want to live, because, yes, the coaching phenomenon of where you are and where you want to be, that's all great.
And you can spend money for a six-week program that's going to help you lose weight or feel sexy or finally write that book you've been talking about or, hey, learn Spanish. Mine's three months, not six weeks, but you can do that. Or, and, there's a choice here. You can start to reflect on that yourself, because quite honestly, when you start reflecting on that yourself, these kind of programs are going to be more helpful. They're going to make a bigger difference. They're going to be a little bit more impactful, because you already know where you're starting. You already know yourself on what you would like that ideal life to be. And it doesn't have to be this, wait six weeks, pie in the sky, let me save up for this amount of money. It doesn't need to be that. You can do a slow edit, or you can make small changes every day. And that's going to get you closer to your goals.
27:29
And ironically, if you do want habit help, because there's a lot of habit work in español, in this Deseo program, definitely check it out at DeseoSpanishProgram.info. Be careful… no, that's not it. Take care of yourselves, queridos. Because no one else is going to care for you like you care for you. So, take care of yourselves. And wherever you need that extra chispa, that spark, whether that is personally, creatively, fuck, English is hard. Whether that is personally, creatively, professionally, emotionally, relationship-wise, whatever that is, start to think about that. Because we are currently, well, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, we are currently in the winter stage of our seasons, and you might have winter energy like I do. That just kind of wants to sleep and have hot tea and hot chocolate and blankets and read and journal and introvert. You might also have springtime energy, which is full of new ideas and it's bursting at the seams with energy and change and you're ready for it and you're welcoming it. Or you might have summer energy, which summer energy, it's just more about building that endurance. Sun is out. Majority of the time, you have the energy, you have the endurance, you're doing the things, you're seeing the results. You don't want to stay out in the sun too long, because then you'll get burnt to a crisp. But you're there. And then fall time energy, maybe that's where you are. Where things are just kind of ramping down, you finally can take a deep breath. You're preparing for this kind of introspective moment. You're getting ready to winter, you don't have much energy, and you're just ready for that slow, languorous moment.
I will say, Deseo doesn't start until spring. Know your seasons, take care of your seasons, and take care of yourself. Cuídense todos. Check out show notes, transcripts, request a word at aprovechar.me. Until next time, un abrazo fuerte.
Gracias otra vez and thank you so much for coming along with me on this ride to Una Palabra Sola. Be sure to check out the show notes for additional worksheets and materials. If you have a word that you would like me to review, please feel free to let me know at aprovecharlanguagesolutions.com. Hasta la próxima vez, until next time.