Is the following example a case of double negatives in Spanish?

Question

I'm reading a book titled, "El Quijote: Para estudiantes de espanol" The construction of the following sentence confuses me: > Segun las leyes de caballeros; no podia luchar con nadie hasta que **no > fuese armado caballero**. > > According to the laws of chivalry he could not fight anyone until he > **was not knighted.** If 'hasta que' can be translated to 'if', then this sentence makes sense to me. > According to the laws of chivalry he could not fight anyone if he > **was not knighted.** However, I've never seen 'hasta que' translated to mean 'if'. Can someone explain to me the construction of this sentence? Is this just a case of where double negatives are acceptable in Spanish, unlike en English?

Answer 1

Hi there! Yes, generally speaking, in Spanish we see perfectly acceptable double negatives where we would not in English. I would normally translate Hasta que as until, rather than if (if would be si without an accent over the letter I). However, Quijote is written in a much older Spanish. So, if the book is saying that hasta que actually means "if" here, then yes, the sentence reads correctly: According to the laws of chivalry, he could not fight anyone if he was not knighted (meaning he had to be knighted in order to be able to fight).

You could also think of it this way: According to the laws of chivalry, he could not fight anyone as long as he was not knighted. The negative structure is acceptable here. The sentence still conveys a clear message.

I hope that helps! Feel free to message me if you ever want to have an online session.

Warmly,

Alissa G., M.A. Spanish