Breakdown of La niña no ve a nadie en la calle.
la niña
the girl
no
no / not
en
in / on / by (means of transport) / about (after pensar)
la calle
the street
Questions & Answers about La niña no ve a nadie en la calle.
Why is there a no before the verb if nadie already means "nobody"?
Why does nadie translate to "anyone" in this sentence instead of "no one"?
Because standard English doesn't use double negatives. "The girl doesn't see no one" sounds wrong in English, so we translate it as "doesn't see anyone" to make it natural. In Spanish, however, the double negative (no ve a nadie) is perfectly normal and required here.
Why is there an a right before nadie?
Could we rewrite this to avoid using the double negative?
Not without changing the meaning! If you want to say "The girl sees no one," you must use the double negative La niña no ve a nadie. If you moved nadie to the front of the sentence, like Nadie ve a la niña, the meaning would flip completely to "Nobody sees the girl." (Notice that when nadie comes before the verb, the no actually does disappear!)