Learn Spanish (Latin America): Nosotros sospechábamos, pero nadie dijo nada.

Nosotros sospechábamos, pero nadie dijo nada.

We suspected, but nobody said anything.

Breakdown of Nosotros sospechábamos, pero nadie dijo nada.

Questions & Answers about Nosotros sospechábamos, pero nadie dijo nada.

In English, we say "nobody said anything", but this translates literally to "nobody said nothing". Is that right?

Yes! In Spanish, double negatives are perfectly normal and actually required here. Because the negative word nadie (nobody) comes before the verb, any other indefinite word that follows it must also be negative. That is why we use nada (nothing) instead of a word for "anything."

What if I wanted to put nadie after the verb instead?

If a negative word like nadie goes after the verb, you must put no before the verb to trigger the negative meaning. So you could say pero no dijo nada nadie (but nobody said anything). However, putting nadie before the verb (nadie dijo nada) is the most natural and common way to phrase this.

Why does this sentence use two different past tenses (sospechábamos and dijo)?

This is a great example of how Spanish mixes past tenses to tell a story! Sospechábamos (we suspected / we were suspecting) is in the imperfect tense because it describes an ongoing background feeling. Dijo (said) is in the preterite tense because the act of speaking up is viewed as a specific, one-time event.

Could I drop the nosotros at the beginning?