Learn Spanish (Spain): No olvidamos nada importante. - We don't forget anything important.

No olvidamos nada importante.

We don't forget anything important.

Breakdown of No olvidamos nada importante.

nothing / anything (in negative contexts)

olvidar

to forget

Questions & Answers about No olvidamos nada importante.

Why does the sentence use both no and nada? Isn't that a double negative?

Yes, it is! In Spanish, double negatives are perfectly normal and often required. When nada (nothing) comes after the verb, you must put no before the verb. In English, we translate this as "don't forget anything," but Spanish uses the double negative no olvidamos nada (literally: we don't forget nothing).

Does nada mean "nothing" or "anything"?

It translates to both, depending on the sentence! By itself or at the beginning of a sentence, nada means "nothing." But when it is paired with no in a negative sentence like this one, it translates to "anything" in English.

Why does importante come directly after nada?

Just like in English ("anything important"), Spanish places the adjective directly after the indefinite pronoun. You do not need to add extra words in between. You can use this handy pattern with other pronouns from this lesson too, like algo bueno (something good) or nadie famoso (nobody famous).

Wait, could olvidamos also mean "we forgot" in the past tense?

Yes, it can! For regular -ar verbs like olvidar (to forget), the "we" form is exactly the same in both the present tense and the simple past tense. You usually figure out which one it is from the context of the conversation or from time words like hoy (today) or ayer (yesterday).