Question 1

Why is there a no before puede? Doesn't ni... ni already make the sentence negative?

Accepted Answer

In Spanish, double negatives are required when the negative words come after the verb. Because ni el gluten ni los lácteos comes after the verb phrase puede digerir, you must put a no before the verb. In English, we say "can digest neither...", but Spanish requires the grammatical equivalent of "cannot digest neither... nor...".

Question 2

Why does the sentence use el and los after ni? The English translation doesn't use "the".

Accepted Answer

In Spanish, when you talk about substances, foods, or things in a general, overarching sense, you usually need to use a definite article. So, general categories like "gluten" become el gluten, and "dairy" becomes los lácteos.

Question 3

Could I leave out the first ni and just say no puede digerir el gluten ni los lácteos?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you can! Just like in English where you might say "She can't digest gluten or dairy," dropping the first ni works perfectly. Using ni... ni just adds a bit more emphasis to both items, exactly like "neither... nor" does in English.

Question 4

Is lácteos a noun or an adjective here?

Accepted Answer

It is functioning as a plural noun meaning "dairy products." The word lácteo can also be an adjective (as in productos lácteos), but it is very common to just drop the word for "products" and use los lácteos to mean "dairy."

Ella es intolerante y no puede digerir ni el gluten ni los lácteos.

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