A2 · Questions and negation
jamais, rien, personne, plus
The same bracket, and the double negative is compulsory.
Instead of pas, the second half can be something else: jamais (never), rien (nothing), personne (nobody), plus (no longer).
The ne stays in every one of these. That is the part worth pausing on, because English spends a great deal of effort teaching the opposite. «I don't see nothing» is the classic mark of non-standard English; in French je ne vois rien is the only correct form and leaving the ne out is the error. The two words are not cancelling each other, and nobody hears them as doing so.
personne and rien can also open the sentence, and the ne still stands before the verb: Personne ne comprend. — literally «nobody doesn't understand», and perfectly standard.
Die Form
| never | ne … jamais |
| nothing | ne … rien |
| nobody | ne … personne |
| no longer | ne … plus |
| only | ne … que |
Die Regeln im Einzelnen
The ne always stays.
Je ne mange jamais de viande.I never eat meat.
ne … que does not negate, it restricts.
Il n’a que dix euros.He has only ten euros.
personne as the subject goes first, ne stays by the verb.
Personne ne comprend.Nobody understands.
In the past, personne follows the participle and rien comes before it.
Je n’ai rien vu, je n’ai vu personne.I saw nothing, I saw nobody.
Woran man es erkennt
- jamais
- rien
- personne
- plus
- que
Beispielsätze
Il n’y a plus de lait.There is no milk left.
Je ne vois rien.I cannot see anything.
Personne n’est venu.Nobody came.
Nous n’avons que deux jours.We have only two days.
Die typisch deutsche Falle
Aufgepasst
ne … que looks like a negation and is not: Il n'a que dix euros means «he has only ten euros», not «he hasn't got ten euros». Read as a negation it reverses the sentence. English has nothing negative-looking in «only», so the ne is the only thing on the page suggesting a meaning that is not there — which is exactly why it catches people.
Here the double negative is the correct form.
Jetzt selbst
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