También vs Tampoco in Spanish: Do YOU Know When to Use Which? (with FREE audio)

También & Tampoco: What do they mean and how to use them correctly? How can you agree or disagree with someone using these two handy words? Find out in this article!

Let me ask you a question: Are you here because you like Spanish? What a coincidence! ¡Yo, también! (Me too!) And what about studying grammar rules? Do you think that’s the best way to learn Spanish? No? Well, yo, tampoco (me neither).

There you have it, two uses of también vs tampoco.

También vs tampoco are both Spanish adverbs.
También = also = used for agreement.
Tampoco = neither = used for negation.

Get ready because after reading this article, you’ll learn how to agree with your Spanish-speaking friends or disagree when they say something stupid.

1. The meaning of también vs tampoco

También and Tampoco — or, as I like to call them, the T-words — are very important in Spanish, since they’re a very direct way to agree with a statement.

Both words are used to express agreement, but in different situations: 

• Tampoco is for agreeing to negative sentences.
• También is for agreeing to affirmative sentences.

There is no direct translation of these words in English, but the closest one would be:

• también = too, also or as well
• tampoco = neither or either (depending on context)

2. Using tampoco to disagree

Now that we know this, let’s look at some examples. Let’s start with tampoco!

• ¿No te quedan monedas? A mí, tampoco. (Do you have any coins left? Me neither.)
• María no es fan del fútbol; Carlos, tampoco. (María is not a Soccer fan, neither is Carlos.)
• Mis padres no están en casa; mi hermana, tampoco. (My parents aren’t home, neither is my sister.)

So, as you’re able to notice, tampoco does not express disagreement, but agreement with a negative statement! And it works similar to “neither” in English. 

3. Using también for agreement

So what about affirmative agreement? Well, that’s when we use también.

Pay attention to the following examples:

• Ellos están cansados; yo, también. (They’re tired, me too.)
• Cory es profesora de español; Mariana, también. (Cory is a Spanish teacher, Mariana as well.)
• Practicar hablar es una gran forma de mejorar tu español; escucharlo, también. (Practicing speaking is a great way to improve your Spanish, listening to it too.)

So, in this case, también can be used similarly to “too” or “as well” in English! ¿Crees que lo tienes? (Do you think you got it?)

Now look at this example:

• ¿Te gusta aprender nuevos idiomas? ¡Qué bien! A mí, también. (Do you like to learn new languages? Cool! Me too.)

Whenever someone says me gusta… (I like…), like me gusta aprender español (I like learning Spanish), and you want to say “me too!, you should use this one. Maybe you thought it was Yo, también, but that isn’t correct in this particular situation.

If you want to know why, check out my video about the how to use gustar. But to be honest, you don’t have to know the full explanation: just learn a mí, también by heart, as a chunk, and make it roll off the tongue whenever you hear someone say “me gusta“.

By the way, do you want to learn more tips for learning Spanish through chunks? On our website we have a full Spanish chunking training that demonstrates how it works in detail. It’s free!

More examples for también vs tampoco

Let’s see some more examples:

• ¿Te gusta el chocolate? ¡A mí, también! (Do you like chocolate? Me too!)
• A Pablo no le gusta el beisbol. A mí, tampoco. (Pablo doesn’t like baseball. Me neither)
• No me gustó la película. A mis amigos, tampoco. (I didn’t like the movie, neither did my friends) 

4. An important Spanish grammar note: keep this in mind!

Important note here: It might happen that you feel the temptation to use tampoco to express disagreement with something, and this is what might happen:

• Es de noche en Alemania.
  • Aquí, tampoco. 

This would translate into “It’s nighttime in Germany. Neither it’s here” and unless you’re an Alice in Wonderland character, this might sound weird to the person you’re talking to.

Whenever you need to express the opposite of a statement, use sí or no, or even the opposite statement, like day/night. Look at these examples:

• Es de noche en Alemania. (It’s nighttime in Germany.)
  • Aquí no / Aquí es de día. (Not here. / It’s daytime here.)
• ¿No te gusta bailar? ¡Qué lástima! ¡A mí, sí! (You don’t like to dance? That’s a shame. I do!)
• Las otras profesoras de Spring Spanish son mexicanas; yo, no / yo soy venezolano (The other Spring Spanish teachers are Mexican, I’m not / I’m Venezuelan)

5. Test yourself with a Practice quiz!

So, as I told you before, I prepared a little test for you! Are you ready? ¿Sí? ¡Yo, también! (Yes? Me too!)

• No me asustan las películas de terror. (Horror movies don’t scare me)
  • ________________ (Me neither)
• A Marifer le encanta viajar a nuevos lugares (Marifer loves to travel to new places)
  • _______________ (Me too)
• A Juan le gustan los videojuegos. ¿Y a Mariana? (Juan loves video games. What about Mariana?)
  • ________________ (Mariana doesn’t)
• No hay montañas en Buenos Aires. ¿Y en Bogotá? (There are no mountains in Buenos Aires. What about Bogotá?)
  • ___________________ (There are Mountains in Bogota)

Check the video on YouTube to see the answers!

6. FREE Spanish Chunking Training to learn grammar topics without complications

So, how did you do? How many did you get right? Let me know in the comments ¡Yo también quiero saber! (I also want to know!) 

I hope you learned a little more Spanish today and if you liked this article please share it with your friends! Also, keep learning Spanish by signing up to our free training, where you can learn much more about the chunking method we use in our academy to have you speak Spanish fluently and without complications.

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