Un 8.4
Other Types of Negation
Although the negation form ‘ne…pas’ is very useful, there are many other ways to express the negative in more precise and expansive ways.
Other negative particles – D’autres formes de la négation
To negate a sentence, it is possible to have different combinations of negative particles with the initial negative particle ‘ne’. These different second negative particles change the sentence’s meaning and/or focus.
|
ne… aucun(e) (X) |
none / not one (X) / not a single (X) |
|
ne… jamais |
never |
|
ne… ni X ni Y |
neither X nor Y |
|
ne… nulle part |
nowhere |
|
ne… pas du tout |
not at all |
|
ne… pas encore |
not yet |
|
ne… personne |
no one / nobody |
|
ne… plus |
no longer |
|
ne… que X |
only X |
|
ne… rien |
nothing |
Most of these second negative particles function in a similar way to ‘pas’. In a standard sentence, they are placed after the conjugated verb.
e.g.
|
Tu ne fais jamais la cuisine. |
You never cook. |
|
Nous n’habitons plus dans un appartement au centre-ville. |
We don’t live in a downtown apartment anymore. |
|
Mon coloc n’écoute personne. |
My roommate doesn’t listen to anyone. |
The negative particles ‘que’ and ‘aucun(e)’ are placed in front of the nouns that they refer to. Although this can often mean that they are placed right after the negated verb, this can change based on the sentence. The particle ‘que’ may undergo contraction. The negative particle ‘aucun(e)’ is the only one that changes form to reflect grammatical gender.
e.g.
|
Je pense qu’ils ne mangent que la pizza. |
I think they only eat pizza. |
|
Pour moi, le rendez-vous n’est possible qu’à dix heures demain. |
For me, the meeting’s only possible at ten tomorrow. |
|
Dans ton jardin, il n’y a aucun banc. C’est bizarre. |
In your garden, there’s no bench. It’s weird. |
|
Je n’ai aucune idée, désolé. |
I have no idea, sorry. (lit. ‘not a single idea’) |
Nobody does... - Personne ne...
It is possible to use some of these negative particles in the place of the sentence’s subject. When this occurs, what is normally the second negative particle is placed before the verb, while the negative particle ‘ne’ is placed in its usual spot in front of the verb. There is then no negative particle following the verb. In most cases, the verb is conjugated in the third person singular.
e.g.
|
Aucune réponse n’est correcte. |
Not one of the answers is correct. |
|
Personne n’est là. |
No one’s there. |
|
Rien ne t’intéresse. |
Nothing interests you. |
