Ninguno is the Spanish equivalent of English no (as a determiner — no friends, no money) and none (as a pronoun — none of them, none left). It belongs to the closed family of negative words covered in the negative words page, but it deserves its own page for one reason: the agreement and number rules trip up English speakers more than any other Spanish negative.
The two things to internalize: ninguno is essentially singular, and before a masculine singular noun it shortens to ningún. Everything else falls out from those two facts.
The forms
There are three forms in everyday use, and a fourth (plural) that is grammatically possible but vanishingly rare.
| Form | Gender / number | Used as | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| ningún | masc. sg. (apocopated) | determiner before noun | ningún libro, ningún amigo |
| ninguno | masc. sg. (full form) | pronoun, standing alone | ninguno de ellos, no queda ninguno |
| ninguna | fem. sg. | determiner OR pronoun | ninguna idea, ninguna de ellas |
| (ningunos / ningunas) | plural — avoid | extremely rare; idiomatic frozen uses only | no tengo ningunas ganas (fixed phrase) |
The pattern parallels other Spanish words that apocope (drop the final -o) before a masculine singular noun: bueno → buen amigo, primero → primer día, tercero → tercer hijo, malo → mal día. Ninguno follows the same rule: ningún before a masculine singular noun, ninguno everywhere else (standalone, pronoun, after the noun).
No tengo ningún plan para el fin de semana, ¿hacemos algo?
I have no plans for the weekend — shall we do something?
No me queda ninguna duda, ahora lo entiendo todo.
I have no doubt left — now I understand everything.
¿Hay galletas? —No, ya no queda ninguna.
Are there biscuits? —No, there aren't any left.
De los cinco candidatos, ninguno me convence del todo.
Of the five candidates, none of them fully convinces me.
Why singular almost always wins
This is the deepest point about ninguno, and the most counterintuitive for English speakers. Native Spanish strongly prefers the singular even where English uses a plural.
The logic: ninguno means not even one. If you say no tengo ningún amigo en Madrid, you are saying there is not a single friend of mine in Madrid. The singular emphasizes the absence of even one instance. A plural would imply you are thinking about a group of friends and saying none of them are there — which is a stranger thing to say.
English does the opposite: I don't have any friends in Madrid uses the plural because we are thinking about the category "friends" in general. Spanish thinks about it one-by-one.
| English (plural) | Spanish (singular) |
|---|---|
| I don't have any friends here. | No tengo *ningún amigo aquí.* |
| I don't have any books. | No tengo *ningún libro.* |
| There are no problems. | No hay *ningún problema.* |
| I have no ideas. | No tengo *ninguna idea.* |
| I don't have any plans. | No tengo *ningún plan.* |
| None of the options work. | *Ninguna de las opciones funciona.* |
No tengo ningún amigo aquí, llevo solo dos semanas en la ciudad.
I don't have any friends here — I've only been in the city two weeks.
No hay ningún problema con eso, hablamos cuando quieras.
There's no problem with that — we'll talk whenever you want.
No tengo ninguna razón para mentirle.
I have no reason to lie to him.
When you DO see the plural — frozen idioms
There is one tiny corner where ningunas survives: the fixed expression no tengo ningunas ganas (I have no desire at all). The plural here is idiomatic — ganas (desire, urge) is one of those nouns that exists only in the plural in this meaning (tener ganas de = to feel like doing something), so the agreement is forced to plural too.
No tengo ningunas ganas de discutir esto hoy, déjalo.
I don't feel at all like arguing about this today — drop it.
No tengo ningunas ganas de ver a mi suegra este fin de semana.
I don't feel like seeing my mother-in-law at all this weekend. (informal)
You may also see ningunas in highly formal or legal writing, but it is rare. Outside the ganas idiom, train yourself to use singular forms only.
Apocope: when does ninguno become ningún?
The apocope happens only before a masculine singular noun. Three conditions all together: masculine, singular, immediately before a noun.
| Context | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Before masc. sg. noun | ningún | ningún libro, ningún amigo |
| Before fem. sg. noun | ninguna | ninguna idea, ninguna mujer |
| Standing alone (masc.) | ninguno | ninguno de los chicos, no queda ninguno |
| Standing alone (fem.) | ninguna | ninguna de las chicas, no queda ninguna |
| Before adjective + noun | ningún still apocopes | ningún buen amigo |
The last row is important: even when an adjective sits between ningún and the noun, the apocope holds, because the noun phrase is still masculine singular. Ningún buen amigo — no good friend.
No conozco ningún buen restaurante en esta zona, vamos al centro.
I don't know any good restaurant in this area — let's go downtown.
No tengo ningún recuerdo claro de aquella noche.
I have no clear memory of that night.
The ninguno de los X partitive
When you want to say "none of the X" — picking out a subset from a known group — Spanish uses ninguno de los X (masc.) or ninguna de las X (fem.). This is the partitive construction, and it requires the full form (ninguno, not ningún), because here ninguno is a pronoun, not a determiner — it is followed by a prepositional phrase, not a noun.
Ninguno de los chicos quiso venir, se quedaron jugando.
None of the boys wanted to come — they stayed playing.
Ninguna de las opciones me convence, voy a seguir buscando.
None of the options convince me — I'll keep looking.
No me ha llamado ninguno de tus hermanos, lo siento.
None of your brothers has called me, sorry.
Note the verb agreement: with ninguno / ninguna as singular subject, the verb stays singular (ninguno quiso, ninguna convence) — never plural, even though English would say none of them want/convince. The singular fits the underlying not one of them meaning.
Standalone ninguno / ninguna — as a pronoun
When the noun has already been mentioned (or is obvious from context), ninguno / ninguna stands alone as a pronoun. The form must agree with the gender of the absent noun.
—¿Quedan plátanos? —No, no queda ninguno.
'Are there bananas left?' 'No, there aren't any left.' (ninguno, masc., agreeing with plátanos)
—¿Has visto a tus primas? —No, no he visto a ninguna.
'Have you seen your cousins?' 'No, I haven't seen any of them.' (ninguna, fem., agreeing with primas)
—¿Cuál de los vinos te ha gustado? —Ninguno, la verdad.
'Which of the wines did you like?' 'None of them, honestly.'
Position: post-verb (with no) vs pre-verb (without no)
Like all negative words, ninguno follows the double-negation rule. After the verb it needs no in front; before the verb (as subject or fronted object) the no drops.
| Post-verb (with no) | Pre-verb (no no) |
|---|---|
| No tengo ningún libro de Cervantes. | Ningún libro de Cervantes me ha gustado tanto. |
| No vino ninguno de mis amigos. | Ninguno de mis amigos vino. |
| No me ha llamado ninguna. | Ninguna me ha llamado. |
Ningún restaurante de la zona abre los domingos, qué pena.
No restaurant in the area opens on Sundays — what a shame.
No me convence ninguna de tus excusas, dime la verdad.
None of your excuses convinces me — tell me the truth.
When used as a subject (which is necessarily pre-verb), ninguno drops the no. When used as an object (which is typically post-verb), no is required.
Ninguno vs nadie — what's the difference?
Both translate as English no one / nobody / none, and learners conflate them. The distinction:
- Nadie = nobody (refers to people in general; cannot be modified by a noun).
- Ninguno = no/none (can modify a noun: ningún amigo; or stand for "none of a specific group": ninguno de los chicos).
| Use this | When you mean |
|---|---|
| nadie | "no person" in general — I see nobody → no veo a nadie |
| ningún + noun | "no [specific category]" — I have no friends → no tengo ningún amigo |
| ninguno de los X | "none of a known group" — none of the boys → ninguno de los chicos |
No veo a nadie en la calle.
I see nobody in the street. — Use nadie when the referent is unspecified people.
No veo a ningún niño en el parque, qué raro.
I see no children in the park — how strange. — Use ningún + noun when you specify a category.
Ninguno de mis amigos vino a la fiesta.
None of my friends came to the party. — Use ninguno de + group when you mean a known subset.
Common Mistakes
❌ No tengo ningunos amigos en Madrid.
Ninguno strongly prefers the singular even when English uses a plural. The plural ningunos/ningunas is almost never used outside the fixed 'ningunas ganas.'
✅ No tengo ningún amigo en Madrid.
I don't have any friends in Madrid.
❌ No tengo ninguno libro de Cervantes.
Before a masculine singular noun, ninguno apocopes to ningún. The full form ninguno is for standalone use.
✅ No tengo ningún libro de Cervantes.
I don't have any book by Cervantes.
❌ Ningunos de los chicos vinieron.
With ninguno as subject, the form is singular (ninguno) and the verb is singular (vino). Both must be singular.
✅ Ninguno de los chicos vino.
None of the boys came.
❌ No tengo ningún.
When standing alone (no noun follows), use the full form ninguno, never the apocopated ningún.
✅ No tengo ninguno. / No tengo ninguna.
I don't have any. — full form because no noun follows.
❌ No conozco ningún en este barrio.
Ningún requires a noun to attach to. Without one, you need either nadie (for people) or ninguno (standalone).
✅ No conozco a nadie en este barrio.
I don't know anybody in this neighborhood.
❌ Ninguno de las opciones me gusta.
The agreement of ninguno must match the gender of the group's noun. 'Opciones' is feminine, so ninguna (not ninguno) is required.
✅ Ninguna de las opciones me gusta.
None of the options appeals to me.
Key takeaways
- Ninguno has three everyday forms: ningún (apocopated, before masc. sg. noun), ninguno (standalone masc.), ninguna (feminine, both functions).
- Singular is the default, even where English uses a plural: no tengo ningún amigo (not ningunos amigos).
- The plural ningunos / ningunas survives only in a few frozen idioms, most famously no tengo ningunas ganas.
- The apocope happens only before a masculine singular noun: ningún libro, but ninguno de ellos (standalone), ninguna idea (feminine).
- With ninguno as subject, the verb stays singular: ninguno de mis amigos vino, not vinieron.
- The partitive ninguno de + group picks out a subset and uses the full form (never the apocopated ningún de).
- Like all Spanish negatives, ninguno triggers double negation when post-verb (with no) and drops the no when pre-verb.
- Nadie vs ninguno: nadie for unspecified people, ningún + noun for a category, ninguno de los X for "none of a known group."
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