Ni...Ni (Neither...Nor) | Spanish (Latin America) Grammar

Ni is the Spanish word for nor, and it's how you extend a negative statement across multiple items. You'll see it alone and doubled up as ni...ni (neither...nor). It always lives inside a negative context.

Ni: extending a negative

When a sentence is already negative, ni can tack on another negated element. It replaces y (and) in negative contexts.

No tengo tiempo ni dinero.

I have neither time nor money.

No vino Juan ni su esposa.

Neither Juan nor his wife came.

Literally, this is I don't have time nor money — English would normally say I don't have time or money, but Spanish prefers ni once the tone is negative.

Ni...ni: neither...nor

To emphasize that both items are being ruled out, you can put ni in front of each one. When ni...ni comes before the verb, the verb stays affirmative (no no is needed):

Ni Juan ni María hablan inglés.

Neither Juan nor María speaks English.

Ni me gusta ni lo entiendo.

I neither like it nor understand it.

When ni...ni comes after the verb, you must add no before the verb, because Spanish requires that negative elements placed after the verb be announced with another negative word earlier in the clause:

No tengo ni tiempo ni dinero.

I have neither time nor money.

No quiero ni café ni té.

I want neither coffee nor tea.

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Double negatives are perfectly correct in Spanish. No tengo nada is the normal way to say I don't have anything, and no tengo ni tiempo ni dinero follows the exact same logic.

Ni siquiera: not even

A very useful extension is ni siquiera (not even), which intensifies the negation and singles out a surprising case.

Ni siquiera me saludó.

He didn't even say hi to me.

No tengo ni siquiera un peso.

I don't even have a single peso.

In fast speech, you may hear ni alone carry this meaning: ¡Ni me mires! (Don't even look at me!).

Combining three or more items

You can chain as many nis as you like. The pattern no... ni... ni... ni... is fully grammatical and common in both speech and writing:

No tengo hambre, ni sed, ni sueño.

I'm not hungry, thirsty, or sleepy.

Ni él, ni ella, ni nadie más sabe la verdad.

Neither he, nor she, nor anyone else knows the truth.

When a long ni chain leads the sentence, each item carries the negation on its own, so you don't need an additional no before the verb.

Ni in fixed expressions

Spanish has several set phrases built around ni that are worth memorizing as vocabulary:

ni hablar — no way, out of the question
ni modo — oh well, it can't be helped (very common in Mexico)
ni idea — no idea
ni pensarlo — don't even think about it

—¿Quieres manejar toda la noche? —¡Ni hablar!

—Do you want to drive all night? —No way!

These are idioms — treat them as single units and don't try to translate them word for word.

Ni and sino

Don't confuse ni with sino. Sino replaces a denied item with a new one; ni adds another denied item to the list. Compare:

No quiero café, *sino té.* — I don't want coffee; I want tea instead.
No quiero *ni café ni té.* — I don't want coffee or tea (I reject both).

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If you can answer what then? with a single alternative, use sino. If the point is to reject several things at once, reach for ni.

Common mistakes

❌ No quiero café o té.

Wrong: o means 'or' — use ni for 'neither...nor' in a negative.

✅ No quiero ni café ni té.

Correct: ni...ni for rejecting multiple items.

❌ Ni quiero café ni quiero té.

Not wrong, but redundant — drop the repeated verb.

✅ No quiero ni café ni té.

Correct: more natural and concise.

❌ No tengo ni hambre sino sed.

Wrong: ni and sino serve different functions — don't combine them.

✅ No tengo hambre, sino sed.

Correct: sino replaces; ni adds to a list of negated items.

For the affirmative counterparts, see Coordinating: Y/E and O/U. For the broader family of but words, see Pero and Sino.