TAMBIÉN vs TAMPOCO, this pair of words that can be confusing for students of Spanish as a foreign language. Both are used to show agreement with what someone says or to show that you do the same or feel the same ways, but there are important differences.
1. También is used to show agreement with a positive statement. It can have the meaning of TOO or ALSO in English depending on where the word is positioned.
Tomás: Yo juego al fútbol todos los domingos (I play footbal every Sunday).
Miguel: Yo también (Me too -Miguel is confirming that he does the same thing).
2. Tampoco is used to show agreement with a negative statement.
Tomás: Normalmente no corro en el parque (I don’t usually run in the park).
Miguel: Yo tampoco (Me neither – Miguel is confirming he doesn’t do the same thing).
3. When you agree with a declaration that contains a verb like GUSTAR ( to like), the beginning of the sentence changes. Instead of YO, we use A MÍ. The same happens with the other subjects, TÚ becomes A TÍ and so on (learn more about gustar).
Tomás: Me gusta ir al cine los viernes ¿y a ti? (I like to go to the movies on Fridays, what about you?).
Miguel: A mí también (Miguel is again confirming he likes to do the same thing).
Tomás: No me gusta bailar (I don’t like to dance).
Miguel: A mí tampoco (He is confirming he doesn’t like the same thing).
4. But if you don’t agree with what someone says, or other person likes, things change a bit.
Tomás: Yo juego al fútbol todos los domingos.
Carlos: Yo no (juego al fútbol todos los domingos.
Tomás: Normalmente no corro en el parque.
Carlos: Yo sí (corro por el parque).
Tomás: Me gusta ir al cine los viernes ¿y a ti?
Carlos: A mí no (me gusta ir al cine los viernes).
Tomás: No me gusta bailar.
Carlos: A mí sí (me gusta bailar).
Exercices with TAMBIÉN and TAMPOCO
Now you can practice everything that you have learned with the quizzes below. Remember to contact your tutor with any question you have about también vs tampoco or ask for more homework. Don’t you have a Spanish personal tutor yet?
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