French Negative Adjectives ~ Adjectifs négatifs
Learn how to use French negative adjectives
French negative adjectives, sometimes called indefinite negative adjectives, are very similar to French negative pronouns and negative adverbs. Like them, negative adjectives are made up of two parts which surround the verb.
Negative adjectives negate, refuse, or cast doubt on a quality of the noun they modify.
Je n'ai aucune confiance en elle. - I don't have any confidence in her.
Il ne connaît pas un seul écrivain. - He doesn't know a single writer.
Pas une décision n'a été prise. - No decision has been made.
The French negative adjectives are:
| ne... aucun(e) | no, not any |
| ne... nul(le) | no, not any |
| ne... pas un(e) | no, not one |
| ne... pas un(e) seul(e) | not a single |
These mean more or less the same thing, but pas un and pas un seul are used only for countable nouns (people, trees, etc.), nul is only for collective nouns (money, confidence, etc.), and aucun can be used for both countable and collective nouns.
Like all adjectives, negative adjectives must agree in gender and number with the nouns that they modify. When a negative adjective modifies the subject of the sentence, the verb must be conjugated in the third person singular.
Pas une seule femme ne le sait. - Not a single woman knows it.
Aucune femme ne le veut. - No woman wants it.
Aucun argent n'a été retrouvé. - No money was found.
Note: In the negative adverb lesson, I mentioned that when there is an indefinite article in a negative construction, it changes to de, meaning any. You can also use pas un, but there is a slight difference in nuance:
-
Je n'ai pas de pomme. - I don't have any apples (general statement)
Je n'ai pas une pomme. - I have no apples/I don't have a single apple (stresses the negative)
The word order for negative adjectives is different than for most other negative words. With compound verbs and dual-verb constructions, most negatives surround the conjugated verb, but the second part of negative adjectives follow it.
| Je n'ai vu aucune voiture. | I did not see any cars. |
| Il n'a montré aucune éloquence. | He didn't show any eloquence. |
| Test on negative adjectives
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