# jamás, nunca



## Darrin

I've seen both of these words for "never." Can they be used interchangably?


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## te gato

Darrin said:
			
		

> I've seen both of these words for "never." Can they be used interchangably?


Hey Darrin;
well they both are adverbs..both mean never..or..(ever) in some contexts..
so one would think so..
But I'm not a 'native' Spanish speaker...
so hopefully a native will come to the rescue..

te gato


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## crom

They mean the same thing, that is, never.

You can also say "nunca jamás" to give more emphasis to the sentence.

crom
"Please, correct me"


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## LadyBlakeney

I'd add that "jamás" is more enphatical and usually used in literary contexts, although as Crom said they're synon*y*ms.


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## te gato

whsuuuu...Thank you crom and Lady B..for coming to my rescue.. 
and teaching me something new..
I thought they were the same..mmm..
but one never knows...
tg


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## fabio28

can you offer a sample sentence using either in the context of "ever" ? thanks alot !


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## asm

Esta pregunta *jamás* será contestada correctamente


  I hope this works

The greatest story ever told = La más grande historia jamás contada



			
				fabio28 said:
			
		

> can you offer a sample sentence using either in the context of "ever" ? thanks alot !


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## Philippa

Lady B - synonyms  


			
				fabio28 said:
			
		

> can you offer a sample sentence using either in the context of "ever" ? thanks a lot !


Look here and here and here 
Also after a bit of googling - from this website todo lo que *nunca* quisiste saber = all you *ever* wanted to know.

Saludos
Philippa


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## LadyBlakeney

Philippa said:
			
		

> Lady B - synonyms



Thank you Philippa, I don't know what I'd do without you guys!!


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## ryryguy

it seems to me from looking at the examples that "jamas" can be used for "perhaps never" or "perhaps ever". 

For example:
The greatest story ever told = La más grande historia jamás contada

In this example you could insert..."The greatest story (possibly) ever told"

If this is a false inference, let me know.


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## Ms Missy

I'm not sure about this, but it seems to me that once you insert the word *possibly* in there, it would influence the verb *contada*.  I say that because the original construction is stated as a FACT. (*La más grande historia jamás contada).*  However, once you insert the word 'possibly' in there, you're implying that it might not be a fact.  There's only the _possibility_ that it's a fact.  That would change it to a different verb tense.
(in my opinion).


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## Ms Missy

One more question on this subject ... In English we might say, "Never, ever touch a live wire."  Is there an equivalent to this type of warning, in Spanish?  (Might a literal translation be nunca, nunca, or jamás, jamás? ... or what about nunca, jamás)?


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## SpiceMan

You can use probablemente:

Federer es probablemente el mejor jugador que jamás vió el tenis.
Federer is probably the best player tennis ever saw.



Ms Missy said:


> One more question on this subject ... In English we might say, "Never, ever touch a live wire."  Is there an equivalent to this type of warning, in Spanish?  (Might a literal translation be nunca, nunca, or jamás, jamás? ... or what about nunca, jamás)?


Maybe "Nunca, pero nunca toques un cable pelado". (not exactly live wire, but roughly the same idea)


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## Ms Missy

Thank you so much for the translation, Spiceman.  This translation makes a lot of sense.  I keep forgetting that Spanish translations will not always have the exact number of words as the English equivalent.

Compliments of the Season!

Missy


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## epistolario

LadyBlakeney said:


> I'd add that "jamás" is more enphatical  and usually used in literary contexts, although as Crom said they're synon*y*ms.


 
¡Ojo!

Spanish: enfático
English: emphatic


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## miasita

This is so confusing.  Alright, I understand that _jamás_ is more emphatic than _nunca _and that _nunca jamás_ is even more so.
The part that´s troubling me is that both _jamás _and _nunca _can mean *ever*. 
If the example _ryryguy_ offered  _The greatest story ever told_ is translated _La más grande historia jamás contada_, how do you say _The greatest story *never* told_?


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## Outsider

miasita said:


> This is so confusing.  Alright, I understand that _jamás_ is more emphatic than _nunca _and that _nunca jamás_ is even more so.
> The part that´s troubling me is that both _jamás _and _nunca _can mean *ever*.


_Nunca_ cannot mean "ever", except in repetitive sentences like "Never, ever..." 

"The greatest story *n*ever told" doesn't make much sense, does it? In any case, you coud use _nunca_ to say it.


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## miasita

Thank you Outsider.  It was confusing because if you check wordereference for _ever _http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=ever

it lists both _never _and _jamás _under 1.

As for the sentence in question, it makes sense to me.  
- _The greatest story ever told._ (of all the stories told so far)
- _The greatest story never told._ (the greatest story but never told till now)

So, you say the 2nd one would be translated as _La más grande historia nunca contada_?


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## lazarus1907

Philippa said:


> from this website todo lo que *nunca* quisiste saber = all you *ever* wanted to know.


Todo lo que nunca quisiste saber = All you *never* wanted to know


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## venusa

No, es correcto, no decimos: todo lo que nunca" quisiste saber, así está mal empleado.  Decimos: todo lo que "siempre" quisiste saber.



Philippa said:


> Lady B - synonyms
> 
> Look here and here and here
> Also after a bit of googling - from this website todo lo que *nunca* quisiste saber = all you *ever* wanted to know.
> 
> Saludos
> Philippa


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## venusa

miasita said:


> This is so confusing.  Alright, I understand that _jamás_ is more emphatic than _nunca _and that _nunca jamás_ is even more so.
> The part that´s troubling me is that both _jamás _and _nunca _can mean *ever*.
> If the example _ryryguy_ offered  _The greatest story ever told_ is translated _La más grande historia jamás contada_, how do you say _The greatest story *never* told_?


La más grande historia nunca contada o la más grande historia jamás contada.
Nunca voy a llevarte a cine
Jamás voy a llevarte a cine
Yo usaría en este caso las dos: "nunca jamás" sí hablo de algo ya pasado así:
Nunca jamás vuelvo a llevarte a cine o nunca jamás volvería a llevarte a cine, ó jamás nunca vuelvo o volvería a llevarte a cine.
Nunca jamás es como "never in my life", we say too: nunca en la vida o nunca en mi vida.


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## Natsu

Darrin said:


> I've seen both of these words for "never." Can they be used interchangably?



They are similar, but there are differences in meaning. "Jamás" is a stronger version of "never". It has much more emphasis. For example, you would never (nunca) go to an Uwe Boll movie, but you would never (¡¡Jamás!!) sell your own son. 

I know the difference is way too subtle, but if anything, you must remember that "jamás" is stronger, more emphasized than "never". When you are translating, remeber that a "jamás" is a much stronger, more emotional word than "nunca". 

Jamás does NOT go before nunca. Never. For example, Peter Pan's Nevernever Land is el País de Nunca Jamás. For emphasis, people could say "¡Nunca jamás!", but they won't ever say "¡Jamás nunca!" 

I know it's a pest of a difference, but knowing it will help you a lot. You should use "nunca" in less emotional and less "strong" contexts, and reserve "jamás" for when the emotion or emphasis requires it. People would use "nunca" for things like "I never (nunca) go to that hairdresser's". But if you used "jamás" in that sentence, you'd give some impression of the speaker having personal problems with the hairdresser, or the hairdresser being very bad.

Hope I didn't confuse you with this, but I think it's well worth to know the difference. In any case, and to play safe, I would stick with "nunca" for "never" unless you nead A LOT of emphasis or emotion conveyed in a sentence.


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## Natsu

Philippa said:


> - todo lo que *nunca* quisiste saber = all you *ever* wanted to know.


Erm... sorry to say this, but that translation is wrong. 

"All you ever wanted to know" translates as:

"Todo lo que *siempre *quisiste saber". 

"Todo lo que nunca quisiste saber" translates as:

"All that you never wanted to know".

It is true that both "nunca" and "jamás" can be used as "ever"... but depending on the context, such as.

Lance Armstrong es el mejor ciclista que haya existido nunca.
Lance Armstrong es el mejor ciclista que haya existido jamás.
Lance Armstrong is the best biker that ever existed.

Yes, I know the difference ¡s weird, but "nunca" and "jamás" can be substituted by "ever" only in expressions such as "the worst president that ever existed". "The best thing that ever happened to me". Only in those type of expressions. Otherwise, they mean "never" and "_neverer_" respectively, and therefore can't be used as "ever".


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## Philippa

Hello Natsu,
Thank you for your explanation. I didn't remember that this thread had so many people telling me that what I'd found was wrong (usually I remember what I learn from mistakes quite vividly!! I'll never forget the difference between 'no te cuelges' and 'no cuelges' on the phone, for example!)
So are you saying that this: Todo lo que nunca quiste saber is advertising a website that tells you things you don't really want to know about Peru - all you never wanted to know?
Thanks
Saludos
Philippa


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## Natsu

I think the title of that blog is sarcastic. If you found the expression in that blog, it's no wonder you were mislead. The title of the blog says clearly: "Everything you never wanted to know".
After that, it says "To know all about Peru".

I think it is being sarcastic, saying they tell you all about Peru, but you probably won't be interested (because you are not from Peru, because you don't ever want to visit Peru, because it's not a rich country... whatever the reason). I think it's a pun on all blogs that say "everything you always wanted to know". But I understand your confusion: it is very misleading.


A similar thing happened to me when I heard a song called "I can't help falling in love with you". It led me to think "help" could be used as "avoid", since the meaning of the song was "I can't avoid falling in love with you". Imagine what happened when I started writing in my English class assignments that "more police is needed to help corruption". "A better educational system is needed to help crime"  

Sorry if my answer was offensive or something. I totally understand that your position is confusing, because "nunca" and "jamás" can really mean "ever" in many contexts. And that blog was totally misleading. I had a look at it, and the entries are called like this:

*The government lies: no devolutions for the Fonavistas* (a group of people related to a certain government agency called the FONAVI, the word does not exist, don't try to look it up in the dictionary).

*The Environment Ministry and its problems.*

*Movistar and its clients' claims.*

After seeing these titles for the entries, I really think the blog title is being totally sarcastic. The blog explores the reality of nowadays Peru in detail, giving all the info... but all that info is stuff that most people would never want to know (specially if you aren't from Peru). I think that's the reason for the title. I'd have to send them a message to confirm it, but I'm pretty sure so far.

I hope this helped.

See you,

Natsu


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## Philippa

Dear Natsu,
Thank you very much for taking the trouble to investigate this and explain it so thoroughly. Very interesting!
I really hope to see you more in the foros!
Saludos desde Reading
Philippa


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