You want to deny something flatly by ruling out even its smallest possible instance.
序 · The move
1name the smallest unit with 一 + measure (一個, 一次, 一點)is it the single smallest case, not a plural amount?
2place 都 or 也 after it to spread the claim across everythingdoes 都/也 sit before the negator, not after?
3negate with 不 (will/quality/habit) or 沒 (completed/experience)does the negator match the predicate's aspect?
4optionally front the whole thing with 連 for the least-expected caseis the negation still present? without 不/沒 this becomes inclusion, not denial
例 · Examples
1我連even (fronts the least-expected case)家旁邊開了一間one (single unit: a single gym)健身房都across the board不知道did not know。畢業後，我們一次one time (single occasion)也as well, sweeping all沒見過have not met。
I didn't even know a gym had opened right next to my home. Since graduating, we haven't met even once.
連…都… with no negator sweeps the extreme case IN (even a child understands). Add 一X 都/也 不/沒 and it sweeps the floor case OUT (not even one understands). The 不/沒 is what flips inclusion into total denial.
都…不/沒… (bare adverb)
Bare 都不/都沒 negates an already-known plural set (none of them came). 一X 都/也 不/沒 builds the set from its smallest unit (not even one came), so the denial reads as absolute.
都/也 after the negator: 我一個不也認識 → 我一個也不認識
plural amount instead of single unit: 我兩個都不認識 (means 'neither of the two') → 我一個都不認識 ('not a single one')
aspect mismatch: 畢業後我們一次也不見過 → 畢業後我們一次也沒見過
English 'not even one' puts the negator on the verb and 'even' loose before the noun; learners drop 都/也 (我連咖啡不喝) and forget the negator must sit after the sweeper, not before it.