The Art of Saying "No" in Spanish. 5 minutes of Spanish + Podcast (English version)

 

Hi! How are you? 

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, depending on where you are or what time you're listening.

 

Welcome to podcast 263. Thanks for being here. So… what are we going to talk about today? Another verb?

Listen to the podcast

 

Sí, negarse - to refuse

Negar- to deny

Rechazar.- to reject

Descartar- to dismiss /to discard

These are very useful phrases when we disagree, when we don’t like something, or when we want to say no… but without sounding rude. Because in Spanish, saying no is also an art form.

In other words, expressing disapproval, but politely.

Exactly, today we’re going to practice how to say no, how to reject an idea, how to rule out an option, and also, how to react when we don’t like something, but in a gentle and polite way.

Let’s look at some examples

First dialogue

Mi amor, ¿quieres ir a ese restaurante nuevo que está en la playa?

Honey, do you want to go to that new restaurant on the beach?

La verdad, prefiero no ir hoy, estoy un poco cansado.

Actually, I’d rather not go today; I’m a little tired.

Ah, está bien, entonces nos negamos al plan por hoy.

Oh, okay, then let’s skip that plan for today.

Yeah, it’s not that I don’t like it, but I just don’t feel like it today.

Sí, no es que no me guste, pero hoy no tengo ganas.

I prefer not to go today = Prefiero no ir hoy
To refuse / to say no = Negarse

Second dialogue

Hey, so let's go to the beach early tomorrow.

Oye, entonces vamos mañana temprano a la playa

Hmm… I think I'll have to pass on that. I have to work really early tomorrow.

Well, no problem. We can come up with another plan.

Yeah, let's skip that idea for now.

Mmm… creo que voy a rechazar esa idea, mañana trabajo muy temprano.
Bueno, no pasa nada, podemos pensar en otro plan.
Sí, mejor rechazamos esa opción por ahora.

I reject the idea = Rechazo la idea

Third dialogue

They finally gave María the loan. /R

Finalmente le dieron el préstamo a María

No, the bank turned her down. / No, el banco se lo negó.

Oh, that's too bad! / ¡Qué mala onda!

The bank denied the loan- El banco negó el préstamo

5to dialogue

We have three options: go to the beach, go to the movies, or stay home. Tenemos 3 opciones: ir a la playa, ir al cine o quedarnos en casa.

The beach is really crowded today. /La playa está muy llena de gente hoy.

So let’s rule out the beach. Descartamos la playa

Yeah, better rule it out for today. /Si mejor descartarla por hoy

What about the movies? ¿Y el cine?

I’m not too keen on that… but I’m not ruling it out; I’ll just keep it as a second option. No me convence mucho… pero no lo rechazo, solo lo dejo como segunda opción.

Perfect—we’ll rule out the beach and keep the movies as a possibility.Perfecto, descartamos la playa y dejamos el cine como posibilidad.

To discard = Descartar
Let’s discard that option = Descartemos esa opción

A veces no queremos decir no directamente.

Sure, in Spanish we often soften things.

For example, instead of rejecting something, we might say:

I’d prefer something else

Let’s talk about it later

I’m not entirely convinced

We’ll rule that out for now

It’s not exactly what I’m looking for

I don’t really like it, but thanks

Yes, that sounds friendlier.

Exactly, because saying no doesn’t always mean saying it forcefully.

Refusing isn’t always arguing.

Ruling something out isn’t always criticizing.

And we can dislike something… without it being terrible.

Perfect, so today we learned:

to refuse — to say no

to reject — to not accept

to rule out — to eliminate an option

To express dislike politely.

And most importantly…

in Spanish, we can always say no… but with a smile.

But it’s good to experiment, so we invite you to join us in our classes, Spanish workshops, in the kitchen, or on Zoom.

Thanks for listening

If you liked the podcast, share it

And if you didn’t like it… politely dismiss it… but share it anyway

See you soon,

Bye, bye