French Negation Beyond pas

Once ... is automatic, French hands you a second tier of negatives that don't all behave the same way. Some aren't even negatives - ... means "only". Some rewrite the articles around them. And in the composé they split into two camps over where the second element lands. The core four pairs (, plus, , , ) live on the French negation page; this page picks up where that one stops.

ne... que: "only", and not a real negative

... means only. Despite the , it is a restriction, not a negation. The sits directly in front of the thing it restricts.

l'. (I drink only water.)
. (He only eats in the evening.)
n'a . (She is only ten.)
On ' . (You only live once.)

Because clamps onto whatever follows it, moving the moves the meaning:

. (He eats only vegetables in the evening - the restriction is on what.)
. (He eats vegetables only in the evening - the restriction is on when.)

ne... que keeps the articles (no de rule)

This is the trap. After ... , the indefinite and partitive articles collapse to ( d'). After ... they stay intact, because is not a true negative:

l'. (not "que d'eau")
lit . (He reads only comics.)
. (She eats only chocolate.)

If you ever do see ... with a bare , it's the restriction landing on a noun that already had for another reason, not the negation rule kicking in.

ne... que vs seulement

is the plain adverb for "only" and does the same job without the :

l'. = l'. (I drink only water.)
n'a euros. = a euros. (He has only three euros.)

The two are interchangeable in meaning. ... is tighter and more idiomatic; is easier to place because it's a single word. Use whichever you can build cleanly under exam pressure.

A quick recap: plus, jamais, rien, personne

These four are taught in depth on the core negation page, so just the headline here:

Negation	English
... plus	no longer, not any more
...	never
...	nothing
...	nobody, no one

n' plus à . (I no longer live in Paris.)
. (She never smokes.)
. (I see nothing.)
. (He knows nobody here.)

All four take the rule after them, exactly like ( n' plus d', ). The new arrivals below are the ones worth dwelling on.

ni... ni: "neither... nor"

... links two negated items: neither X nor Y. The still sits before the verb, and a goes in front of each item.

n' thé. (I like neither coffee nor tea.)
. (He speaks neither English nor Spanish.)
n'a soeur. (She has neither a brother nor a sister.)

The dropped article

After ... , the indefinite and partitive articles disappear entirely - no , , , , . You don't even get the that would leave behind:

J' soeur. -> n' soeur. (not "ni un frère ni une soeur")
thé. -> thé. (not "ni du café ni du thé")

The definite article and possessives stay, because they point to specific things:

n' thé. (the definite article survives)
n'a parents . (the possessives survive)

Verb agreement with ni... ni subjects

When ... joins two subjects, the verb is usually plural, though singular is tolerated:

ma . (Neither my father nor my mother came.)
Paul . (Neither Paul nor Marie knows it.)

Note the still appears before the verb even when the ... sits out in front as the subject.

aucun(e): "no, none, not any"

means no / none / not any. It pairs with (... ) and is always singular - there is no plural of "not a single one".

As an adjective (aucun + noun)

It agrees in gender with the noun but stays singular: (masc), (fem).

n' . (I have no idea.)
n'y a . (There is no problem.)
n'a effort. (She made no effort.)

As a pronoun (aucun standing alone)

It can stand in for the noun entirely, often with + a group:

n' . (None of my friends came.)
me . (None of these dresses appeals to me.)
- as questions? - . (Any questions? None.)

When leads as the subject, the stays before the verb: n'a (none answered).

nulle part: "nowhere"

part is the negative of "somewhere / anywhere". It pairs with and is invariable.

part. (I'm not going anywhere.)
On part. (You can't find it anywhere.)
l' part. (I didn't see it anywhere.)

It's the negative partner of part (somewhere). Like the noun-like negatives, it trails the past participle in the composé (see below).

Position in the passé composé

Here the second tier splits in two. Some negatives slot between the auxiliary and the past participle, exactly like . Others land after the past participle.

Before the participle (the adverb-like ones, same as pas):

n' plus . -> compound: n' plus . (I didn't eat any more.)
n' film. (I have never seen this film.)
n' . (I said nothing.)

After the participle (the noun-like ones):

n' . (I saw nobody.)
n' l'. (I drank only water.)
n' film. (I saw no film.)
part. (I went nowhere.)

Negative	Passé composé slot	Example
... plus	before the participle	n' plus
...	before the participle	n'
...	before the participle	n'
...	after the participle	n'
...	after the participle	n' l'
...	after the participle	n' film
... part	after the participle	part

The logic: , plus, , behave like short adverbs and tuck inside; , + noun, , part behave like objects or place complements and follow the verb's full form. The is always before the auxiliary either way.

Worked examples

l' . (I only drink water in the morning.)
n'a téléphone . (She has neither a phone nor a computer.)
n'y a s'. (There is no reason to worry.)
m'. (None of these books interests me.)
n' à . (I saw nobody at the party.)
On l'a part. (We didn't find it anywhere.)
n' pain . (I ate only bread and cheese.)
. (Neither he nor she speaks French.)

Common mistakes English speakers make

Treating ... as a real negative and collapsing the article: d' is wrong, it's l' - the de rule does not apply to "only". Leaving the articles in after ... : n' soeur is wrong, it's n' soeur. Pluralising : there is no for ordinary use - it stays singular, , not . Putting or before the past participle on the pas pattern: n' is wrong, it's n' ; n' l' is wrong, it's n' l'. And forgetting the when a negative word leads as subject: a is wrong, it's n'a .

The core French negation page covers ne... pas, jamais, rien, personne, the article-becomes-de rule, and the colloquial ne-drop.
The French articles page covers the indefinite and partitive articles that ni... ni strips out and the de rule that ne... que ignores.
The French grammar cheatsheet covers the wider A1-B2 grammar map.

Practise: test yourself

Fill in the blank

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Fill the gap with the missing second element of the negation (que, ni, personne, aucune or nulle). Keep the ne / n' already in the sentence.

Je ne bois de l'eau. (only) (ne... que = only)
Il ne boit eau ___ café. (neither... nor, first gap) (ne... ni... ni)
Il ne connaît ici. (nobody) (ne... personne)
Je n'ai idée. (no / not any) (feminine: idée)
Je ne vais part. (nowhere) (ne... nulle part)
Elle ne mange du pain. (only) (ne... que = only, keeps the article)
Il n'a frère ___ soeur. (neither... nor, first gap) (ne... ni... ni)
Je n'ai vu à la fête. (nobody) (ne... personne, after the participle)
Il n'a raison de partir. (no / not any) (feminine: raison)

Translation drill

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Translate into French. Watch the article rules (que keeps the partitive, ni... ni drops it) and the passé composé word order.

I drink only water.
She has neither a brother nor a sister.
I have no idea.
I saw nobody at the party.
He drinks only coffee.
She has neither a phone nor a car.
I'm not going anywhere.
None of my friends came.

Pick the right one

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Pick the correct passé composé word order: the adverb-like negatives (rien, jamais) go before the participle; the noun-like ones (personne, que, aucun, nulle part) go after.

I saw nobody. ()
I said nothing. ()
I drank only water. ()
I have never seen this film. ()
I saw no film. ()
I went nowhere. ()
I ate nothing. ()
I waited for nobody. ()

Frequently asked questions

Is ne... que a real negation in French?

No, and that's the catch. ne... que means 'only', a restriction, not a negative. Je ne bois que de l'eau means 'I drink only water', not 'I don't drink water'. Because it isn't a true negative, the article-becomes-de rule does not apply: you keep de l'eau, du café, des amis intact, whereas after ne... pas they would all collapse to de. The que sits directly in front of the thing being restricted, which can be anywhere after the verb, so moving the que moves the meaning: il ne mange que le soir (he only eats in the evening) versus il ne mange que des légumes (he eats only vegetables).

What happens to the articles after ni... ni in French?

The indefinite and partitive articles (un, une, des, du, de la) drop out completely after ni... ni. Je n'ai ni frère ni soeur (I have neither a brother nor a sister), not ni un frère ni une soeur. Je ne bois ni café ni thé (I drink neither coffee nor tea), with no du. The definite article (le, la, les) and possessives do stay, because they point to something specific: je n'aime ni le café ni le thé (I like neither coffee nor tea). The ne still sits before the verb in every case.

Where does ne... personne and ne... que go in the passé composé?

After the past participle, not between the auxiliary and participle. This is the opposite of pas, jamais and rien, which slot in before the participle. So you get je n'ai vu personne (I saw nobody) and je n'ai bu que de l'eau (I drank only water), with personne and que de l'eau trailing the participle. The same goes for aucun as an object (je n'ai vu aucun film) and for nulle part (je ne suis allé nulle part). The rule of thumb: the short adverb-like negatives (pas, plus, jamais, rien) go inside; the noun-like ones (personne, aucun, que + noun, nulle part) go after.