Never vs don't ever, are they just the same, with different emphasis?

Question

I got this sentence from Duolingo (in Spanish course), here's the sentence:

My English friends don't ever write to me.

(I'll a bit off-topic, but this explanation is related to my question, and I think it's necessary to show the context) The translation of the sentence above in Spanish is:

Mis amigas inglesas no me escriben nunca. (1)

There was a comment like this:

Can I just say: "Nunca me escriben"?

There was a guy who replied:

Yes, you can, but it's less strong. Just as never write to me (nunca me escriben) is less strong than don't ever write to me (no me escriben nunca).

Now, I want to discuss in English view. In my opinion, at least I've never seen don't ever is used in another situation except in imperative sentences. My question, do we use this phrase in daily conversation and is it true that don't ever emphasizes something that never been done? I have this doubt since the guy who replied the question seemed to be a non-native English speaker.

Answer 1

They normally mean the same thing, and both are equally acceptable English. Both can be used in imperatives, such as "Don't ever use that word" and "Never use that word".

There can be a slight difference in meaning, for example "You don't ever light a Bunsen burner with the air hole open" is a little more likely to be advice, meaning "You should never light a Bunsen burner with the air hole open", and on the other hand "You never light a Bunsen burner with the air hole open" is a little less likely to be advice and a little more likely to mean that closing the air hole is your invariable practice before lighting a Bunsen burner. Even here though both sentences can have the same meaning.