Advanced negation — jamais rien personne plus

In one line

Take pas out and put another negative word in its place — ne stays where it is, always in front of the verb.

The forms on this page

The table

ne … que is not a negative — it means "only". Je n'ai que 10 euros means you have ten euros, not that you have none.

ne … que — "only", up close

que sits right before the thing "only" applies to — that is what decides where it goes:

In a compound tense que comes after the past participle — because it sits before what it restricts.

It is not a negative, so the article does not turn into de:

The structural news for an English speaker: every one of these is two words. English negates with a single word — never, nothing, nobody — and French wraps ne around the verb as well. Je vois personne is not French; Je ne vois personne is. In speech the ne does disappear, but in writing it is compulsory, and leaving it out is the most frequent error on this page.

Position in a compound tense

Here the words split into two groups:

The rule of thumb: the short words (pas jamais plus rien) go in the middle; the long ones and those pointing at a noun (personne aucun nulle part ni) go after the participle.

When they are the subject

rien and personne can be subjects too, and then they come first:

ne still stays in front of the verb. It is only pas that has given up its place to the other word.

Combining negatives

French can stack two negative words, but pas combines with none of them:

The order when stacking: plus → jamais → rien / personne

Je ne dirai plus jamais rien. — I'll never say anything again

This looks like a double negative and is not. English avoids stacking by switching to an indefinite: "I never see anybody", not "never see nobody". French has no equivalent of that "anybody" here — personne does both jobs. So Je ne vois jamais personne is standard, correct French, and its literal shape ("I never see nobody") is simply not how French counts negatives.

aucun — adjective and pronoun

And it is always singular:

❌ aucuns livres ✅ aucun livre

The feminine is aucune: Je n'ai aucune idée.

ni … ni — and the article that drops

In speech, ne disappears

ne is compulsory in written exams. In listening, you have to get used to not hearing it at all.

non plus — "me neither"

❌ Moi aussi in reply to a negative. ✅ Moi non plus.

English draws the same line — "me too" versus "me neither" — so the concept is familiar; only the words are new.

Examples

Common mistakes

Why ne is not enough on its own