1.33: Formes négatives

French has several other types of negation where other words than ‘pas’ make the negation. These can be referred to as negative adverbs and the most common examples are:

• ne … jamais never

☞ Je ne fume jamais.I never smoke.

• ne … rien nothing, anything

☞ Je ne comprends rien.I do not understand anything.

• ne … personne nobody, anybody

☞ Je ne connais personne.I do not know anybody.

Using personne and rien as the subject of the sentence

Both personne nobody and rien nothing can both be the subjects of a sentences.

☞ Personne ne vient ce soir. Nobody is coming tonight.

☞ Rien ne marche ici. Nothing works here.

☞ Rien ne m’interesse. Nothing interests me.

Ne + verb + pas encore haven’t yet, still haven’t

When you want to express something that you haven’t done yet use ne + verb + pas encore. This negation applies to the passé composé.

☞ Je n’ai pas encore parlé. I still haven’t spoken’.

☞ Je n‘ai pas encore compris cette leçon. I still haven’t understood this lesson.

Ne + verb + nulle part nowhere or anywhere

The word nulle part means nowhere and/or anywhere.

☞ Elle ne va nulle part. She’s not going anywhere.

☞ Le bus ne va nulle part. The bus is going nowhere.

Ne + verb + que only

The format, ne + verb + que means ‘only’.

☞ Il ne boit que de l’eau. He only drinks water.

☞ Je ne travaille que le matin. I only work in the morning.

☞ Je n’écoute que la musique classique. I only listen to classical music.

Ne + qu’à faire just + verb

Je construction ne + qu’à faire means ‘just + verb’, like the Nike commercial: ‘Tu n’as qu’a le faire!’ translates to ‘Just do it!’.

☞ Tu n‘as qu’à le manger. Just eat it!

☞ Vous n’avez qu’à l’essayer! Just try it!

Rien + qu’à + infinitive by just doing something

☞ Rien qu’à assister au spectacle, on peut voir plein de gens. By just attending the show you can see lots of people.

Ne + verb + aucun(e) no or any

The word aucun/aucune translates to any. For these sentences, the word aucun must agree in gender with the noun it’s modifying. For example, ‘Je n’ai aucun ami en France’ translates to both ‘I don’t have any friend in France’ and ‘I have no friend in France.

The word idée (idea) is feminine. Hence, ‘Je n’ai aucune idée’ translates to ‘I have no idea’.

☞ Je n’ai aucun problème. I have no problem.

☞ Je n’ai aucune objection. I have no object.

☞ Je n’ai aucun doute. I have no doubt.

Aucun(e) + noun or aucun(e) de + plural noun can be the subject of a sentence to translate to no or none none of.

☞ Aucun de mes amis habite en France. None of my friends live in France.

☞ Aucune de mes amies me comprennent. None of my friends understand me.

Ne + guère much or hardly

The word guère translates to both much and hardly. Hence, ‘Je comprends guère’ translates to ‘I hardly understand’.

☞ Elle ne sort guère. She hardly ever goes out.

☞ Il ne mange guère. He doesn’t eat much.

Ni…ni neither…nor

Ni…ni translates to to neither…nor, while ni l’une ni l’autre translates to neither of them.

☞ Je n’aime ni les escargots ni les épinards. I like neither snails nor spinach.

☞ Je ne veux ni fromage ni yaourt. I don’t want cheese or yogurt.

☞ Elles ne sont arrivées ni l’une ni l’autre. Neither of them arrived.

Ne + past conditional + past participle of devoir + infinitive shouldn’t have

To express regret for something you shouldn’t have done use the past. conditional of devoir plus the infinitive.

☞ Je n‘aurais pas dû acheter ce livre. I shouldn’t have bought this book.

☞ Je n‘aurais pas dû manger ce poisson. I shouldn’t have eaten this fish.

Practice