adverbs in que

Question

In the quiz, I got the sentenceAntes de que tú digas nada, .... ( before you say anything )Why is 'nada' here ? Can it be 'algo' ?Another example from the other lesson is, though I don't remember the exact phase but it's likeNo creo que hayan llegado todavía.The original phase to be denied should be 'han llegado ya'. Again, why it changed to 'todavía' ?I agree that whole expression has something negative, which hasn't happened yet. But I'm confused, because the phase in 'que' is totally affirmative.So the expression in 'que' isn't independent from its use ? And how ?

Answer

Hello,Your question was from a while ago. But I am an English Educator and I can shed some light about "nada" and "todavia" at least. In English we would say (before you say anything) not (before you say something), algo is in reference to "something" and nada is more like "nothing" or "anything".Same for todavia. It has the feeling of "yet" and not "already" where "ya" gives the feeling of something that has happened (already). So, (no creo que hayan llegado todavia) is like "yet". :)I hope this helps part of your question.