No quiero engañar a nadie; prefiero decir la verdad.

I don't want to deceive anyone; I prefer to tell the truth.

Breakdown of No quiero engañar a nadie; prefiero decir la verdad.

• yo: I
• a: to
• preferir: to prefer
• ;: semicolon

Questions & Answers about No quiero engañar a nadie; prefiero decir la verdad.

Why is it No quiero engañar... and not No quiero engaño...?

Because after querer in this sentence, Spanish uses an infinitive verb: querer + infinitive.

• quiero = I want
• engañar = to deceive / to trick

So quiero engañar literally means I want to deceive.

You cannot use the noun-like form engaño here, because engaño means deception, trick, or lie, not to deceive.

Why does the sentence use a nadie instead of just nadie?

Because nadie is the direct object of engañar, and in Spanish, when the direct object is a person or refers to people, you usually need the personal a.

So:

• engañar a alguien = to deceive someone
• engañar a nadie = to deceive anyone / nobody

Even though nadie means nobody or anybody depending on context, it still refers to people, so the a is needed.

Why are both no and nadie used? Isn’t that a double negative?