Learn Spanish (Latin America): Nadie se atreve a abrir el sobre.

Nadie se atreve a abrir el sobre.

No one dares to open the envelope.

Breakdown of Nadie se atreve a abrir el sobre.

Questions & Answers about Nadie se atreve a abrir el sobre.

Why do we need the preposition a between atreve and abrir?

The verb atreverse (to dare) is one of many Spanish verbs that requires a specific preposition to connect it to an infinitive verb. It always uses a. So, to say 'to dare to do something', you must use atreverse a hacer algo.

I learned that sobre means 'on' or 'about'. How does it mean 'envelope' here?

It is the same word, but acting as a different part of speech! As a preposition, sobre means 'on' or 'about'. But as a masculine noun (el sobre), it means 'the envelope'. You can tell it is a noun here because it follows the definite article el.

Why is there a se before atreve?

The Spanish verb for 'to dare' is atreverse, which is a pronominal verb. This means it always needs a pronoun (me, te, se, nos) that matches the subject to be complete. Since nadie (no one) is treated as a third-person singular subject (like he or she), it takes the pronoun se.

Why isn't there a no in this sentence? Doesn't Spanish use double negatives?

Spanish only requires a double negative if the negative word comes after the verb (for example: No se atreve nadie). Because the negative word nadie (no one) is placed before the verb in this sentence, the no is dropped.