Tampoco is one of the most useful words in Spanish, and it does a single, very specific job: it says "neither" or "also not." It is the negative counterpart of también (= "also, too"). If a friend says no tengo hambre ("I'm not hungry"), the natural response in Spanish — and the one that gets you sounding like a native almost immediately — is yo tampoco ("me neither"). This page covers exactly when to reach for tampoco, how to position it, and the specific traps English speakers fall into.
The core logic: tampoco mirrors también
Spanish pairs up its affirmative and negative additive adverbs into two perfect mirrors:
- también = "also, too" — adds a second affirmative statement to a previous one.
- tampoco = "neither, also not, not either" — adds a second negative statement to a previous one.
If you've already said one negative thing, and you want to add another negative thing to it, you use tampoco. The choice between también and tampoco depends entirely on whether the surrounding context is affirmative or negative — not on what the speaker "feels" about it.
Como mucho chocolate. Mi hermana también.
I eat a lot of chocolate. My sister too. — affirmative context, use también.
No como chocolate. Mi hermana tampoco.
I don't eat chocolate. My sister doesn't either. — negative context, use tampoco.
A Pablo le gusta el jazz, y a mí también.
Pablo likes jazz, and so do I.
A Pablo no le gusta el jazz, y a mí tampoco.
Pablo doesn't like jazz, and neither do I.
The trap for English speakers is that English uses two completely unrelated phrases — "me too" vs. "me neither" — while Spanish uses a single mirrored pair: a mí también / a mí tampoco. Once you internalize the pairing, you stop second-guessing yourself.
"Yo tampoco" — the most useful response
The single most common use of tampoco in spoken peninsular Spanish is the bare response yo tampoco = "me neither." Memorize this as a chunk.
— Yo no fui a la fiesta de Marta. — Yo tampoco, estaba reventado.
— I didn't go to Marta's party. — Me neither, I was knackered.
— No he visto la última de Almodóvar. — Yo tampoco, pero dicen que es muy buena.
— I haven't seen the latest Almodóvar film. — Me neither, but they say it's very good.
The structure works for any subject pronoun, not just yo:
Mis padres no entienden TikTok. Los míos tampoco.
My parents don't get TikTok. Mine don't either.
Marcos no sabe nadar. — ¿En serio? Su hermano tampoco.
Marcos can't swim. — Really? His brother can't either.
With indirect-object verbs: "a mí tampoco"
When the underlying verb takes an indirect object — gustar, encantar, parecer, importar, doler, apetecer — the response uses the disjunctive pronoun with a, exactly as it does in the affirmative case.
— No me gusta el pulpo. — A mí tampoco.
— I don't like octopus. — Me neither.
— No me apetece salir esta noche. — A mí tampoco, mejor pedimos algo.
— I don't feel like going out tonight. — Me neither, let's just order something in.
— A Lucía no le importa esperar. — A nosotros tampoco.
— Lucía doesn't mind waiting. — We don't either.
Saying yo tampoco in response to no me gusta is a classic learner error — the equivalent of saying "I don't either" when the original sentence had "to me." See the Common Mistakes section below.
Position: pre-verb or post-verb (with no)
Tampoco follows the same placement rules as the other negative words (nunca, nada, nadie). It can go before the verb on its own, or after the verb if no precedes the verb. Both positions are equally correct.
| Position | Pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-verb (no no) | (subject) + tampoco + verb | Yo tampoco lo sabía. |
| Post-verb (with no) | no
| Yo no lo sabía tampoco. |
Tampoco voy a ir, no me apetece nada.
I'm not going to go either, I really don't feel like it. — pre-verb tampoco, no 'no' needed.
No voy a ir tampoco, no me apetece nada.
I'm not going to go either, I really don't feel like it. — post-verb tampoco, with 'no' before the verb.
The two are essentially interchangeable in meaning. The pre-verb position often feels slightly more emphatic in spoken Spanish ("I'm not going either, so don't count on me"), and the post-verb position is a touch more neutral, but the difference is subtle. Use whichever feels natural in the rhythm of the sentence.
Chaining: "ni…tampoco"
When you want to chain a series of negative statements, tampoco often pairs with ni. The pattern is usually: no + first verb + ni + second item + (tampoco).
No fumo ni bebo tampoco.
I don't smoke, and I don't drink either.
Como tampoco viene Marta, no le compres nada.
Since Marta isn't coming either, don't buy her anything. — 'como tampoco' = 'since…not either', a common subordinator.
Ni hace frío ni tampoco hace calor — el tiempo está perfecto.
It's not cold, and it's not hot either — the weather is perfect.
The como tampoco… construction at the start of a sentence ("since X isn't… either") is very common in spoken peninsular Spanish for giving a causal explanation, and worth recognising.
How it differs from English
English has three different ways to express "also not," and the choice depends on syntax:
- either — at the end of a clause: I don't like it either.
- neither — at the start of an inverted clause: Neither do I.
- nor — joining two negative clauses: I don't smoke, nor do I drink.
Spanish collapses all three into the single word tampoco, which simply slots into the same syntactic position any negative adverb would take. There is no inversion, no auxiliary, no "do-support." This is one of the rare cases where Spanish is genuinely simpler than English — embrace it.
— No me gusta el café. — A mí tampoco.
— I don't like coffee. — Me neither. (Neither do I. / I don't either.)
No tengo coche, y tampoco lo necesito en Madrid.
I don't have a car, nor do I need one in Madrid.
Tampoco vs. también no — the order matters
You will sometimes hear también no in very informal speech (también no me gusta), but it is not standard and feels like a calque from English "also not." The standard Spanish equivalent is tampoco (or, in some contexts, no… también, which is rare and means something slightly different — usually a contrastive "also doesn't").
❌ También no me gusta el café.
Non-standard — sounds like a direct translation of 'I also don't like coffee.' Stick to tampoco.
✅ Tampoco me gusta el café.
I don't like coffee either. — Standard, natural.
Tampoco as "not really" or "not exactly"
In conversation, tampoco often softens a negative statement, meaning something closer to "not really" or "well, not exactly." This is a peninsular conversational tic that you'll hear constantly once you start listening for it.
— ¿Te ha gustado la película? — Pues tampoco, la verdad. Estaba un poco lenta.
— Did you like the film? — Well, not really, to be honest. It was a bit slow.
No es tampoco que sea malo, es que no me apetece.
It's not exactly that it's bad, it's just that I don't feel like it.
Tampoco hace falta exagerar — es un error, no un desastre.
There's no need to exaggerate — it's a mistake, not a disaster. — softens the previous claim.
This second use is informal and emphatic; you'll hear it in everyday speech and in TV dialogue but rarely in formal writing.
Common Mistakes
❌ — No me gusta el pulpo. — Yo tampoco.
Wrong — when the original verb is 'gustar' (or similar), the response must use the prepositional pronoun 'a mí', because the subject of 'gustar' is 'el pulpo', not 'yo'. The mistake is parallel to saying 'I don't either' when the original said 'I don't like it.'
✅ — No me gusta el pulpo. — A mí tampoco.
— I don't like octopus. — Me neither.
❌ Voy tampoco a la fiesta.
Wrong — when 'tampoco' comes after the verb, you need 'no' in front. Spanish requires the double negation.
✅ No voy tampoco a la fiesta. / Tampoco voy a la fiesta.
I'm not going to the party either. — either pattern works.
❌ También no tengo hambre.
Wrong — this is a calque from English 'also not.' Spanish has a dedicated single word for this: tampoco.
✅ Tampoco tengo hambre.
I'm not hungry either.
❌ Mi hermana también no come carne.
Wrong — same calque error. Use tampoco.
✅ Mi hermana tampoco come carne.
My sister doesn't eat meat either.
❌ — No he estado nunca en París. — Tampoco yo.
Awkward — placing 'tampoco' before the pronoun sounds formal and stilted. In modern conversational peninsular Spanish, the natural order is 'Yo tampoco.'
✅ — No he estado nunca en París. — Yo tampoco, me gustaría ir.
— I've never been to Paris. — Me neither, I'd like to go.
Key takeaways
- Tampoco is the negative mirror of también. Use it whenever the context is negative and you want to add a second negative point.
- The chunk yo tampoco ("me neither") is one of the most useful conversational replies in Spanish — memorize it.
- With gustar-type verbs, the response is a mí tampoco, not yo tampoco — the disjunctive pronoun matches the original me.
- Position rules: pre-verb on its own (tampoco voy) or post-verb with no (no voy tampoco). Never bare voy tampoco.
- Avoid the English-calque también no. Spanish has a dedicated word for this — use it.
- In informal speech, tampoco also softens a claim ("not really," "not exactly"), as in tampoco hace falta exagerar.
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