The different negatives

Using negatives including ‘ne… personne’

These negative structures are also formed by sandwiching the negative words around the

Negative form	English	Example
ne … plus	no longer, not any more	Mon grand-père ne travaille plus. - My grandfather doesn’t work any more.
ne … rien	nothing	Elle n’a rien bu. - She didn’t drink anything.
ne … jamais	never	Nous n’allons jamais fumer. - We’re never going to smoke.
ne … que	only	Ils n’ont qu’un petit peu d’argent. - They only have a little bit of money.
ne … ni … ni	neither … nor	Tu ne manges ni viande ni poisson ? - Do you eat neither meat nor fish?

Negative form	ne … plus
English	no longer, not any more
Example	Mon grand-père ne travaille plus. - My grandfather doesn’t work any more.

Negative form	ne … rien
English	nothing
Example	Elle n’a rien bu. - She didn’t drink anything.

Negative form	ne … jamais
English	never
Example	Nous n’allons jamais fumer. - We’re never going to smoke.

Negative form	ne … que
English	only
Example	Ils n’ont qu’un petit peu d’argent. - They only have a little bit of money.

Negative form	ne … ni … ni
English	neither … nor
Example	Tu ne manges ni viande ni poisson ? - Do you eat neither meat nor fish?

To say ‘nobody’, ‘no one’ or ‘not … anyone’, use ne … personne. It can be used in the same way as the negative structures above:

Don’t confuse une personne (a person/someone) with ne … personne (no one):

Il y a une personne à la banque. – There is a person/someone at the bank.
Il n’y a personne à la banque. – There isn’t anyone at the bank.

Personne … ne can also be used as the subject of the sentence:

Personne n’est allé au concert hier. – No one went to the concert yesterday.

Negatives in FrenchThe different negatives