Learn Spanish (Spain): No oigo nada, la calle está vacía. - I don't hear anything, the street is empty.

No oigo nada, la calle está vacía.

I don't hear anything, the street is empty.

Breakdown of No oigo nada, la calle está vacía.

no / not

estar

to be (location/state)

Questions & Answers about No oigo nada, la calle está vacía.

Why does it say no oigo nada instead of just oigo nada?

In Spanish, when a negative word like nada (nothing/anything) comes after the verb, you must put no before the verb. This creates a double negative, so it literally translates to I do not hear nothing. If you start a sentence with nada, you drop the no, like in nada importa (nothing matters).

Is oigo an irregular verb?

Yes, oigo is the I form of the verb oír (to hear). It is irregular in the present tense. The other present tense forms are oyes, oye, oímos, oís, and oyen.

Why do we use está instead of es for is empty?

We use estar (conjugated here as está) because being empty is a condition or state of the street. It tells us how the street is right now, rather than defining it as a permanently empty place.

Why does vacía end with an -a?

Vacía is an adjective describing la calle (the street). Since calle is a feminine noun, the adjective must match its gender, changing from the masculine vacío to the feminine vacía.