Gap-fill
Nulle part in French: nowhere, anywhere and nowhere else
Use ne…nulle part to say nowhere. Follow a search for a missing key, compare rien and nulle part, then complete a short French story.
- A2
- 4 gaps
- Translation included
- Learn this in the A2 notebook →
In short
Nulle part means “nowhere” or “not anywhere”: Je ne trouve mes clés nulle part. In a full standard sentence, use ne before the verb and nulle part after it or its object. For “nowhere else”, add ailleurs.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
| French | Meaning | What is missing? |
|---|---|---|
| Je ne trouve rien. | I cannot find anything. | a thing |
| Je ne trouve ma clé nulle part. | I cannot find my key anywhere. | a place where the key can be found |
| Je ne la trouve nulle part ailleurs. | I cannot find it anywhere else. | another place |
The key stays in the sentence because it tells us what we are looking for. Nulle part tells us that the search has failed everywhere we have looked. With the pronoun la, keep the order je ne la trouve nulle part. There is no extra pas in this basic pattern.
Four things in the search
Find:
- Nora
Tu vas où ce soir ?
Where are you going tonight?
- Sam
Nulle part. Je reste à la maison.
Nowhere. I’m staying at home.
- Nora
Tu as vu ma clé ?
Have you seen my key?
- Sam
Non. Regarde dans ton sac.
No. Look in your bag.
Nulle part can stand alone as an answer to où. Expand that short reply and the negative frame returns: Je ne vais nulle part. In conversation you will also hear Je vais nulle part. Keep ne in the full written sentences below.
How do you say “nowhere” in French?
Use the clues to choose between the negative words. The story moves from a missing object to a place already checked, then to a discovery. Keep the little pronoun with its verb, and read each completed sentence aloud.
La petite clé grise
Il est huit heures. Nora cherche sa clé. « Je ne la trouve (nowhere) », dit-elle. Elle regarde dans son sac, mais elle ne trouve (nothing).
Sam demande : « Tu vas où ? » Nora répond : « (Nowhere) pour le moment ! Je cherche encore. » Sur la table, elle voit ses lunettes et son téléphone, mais pas sa clé.
« Hier, elle était dans mon sac. Je ne l’ai vue nulle part (else) », explique Nora. Sam ouvre le placard. La clé est là, à côté du sac de courses. « La voilà ! »
Read it in English
It is eight o’clock. Nora is looking for her key. “I cannot find it anywhere,” she says. She looks in her bag but finds nothing.
Sam asks, “Where are you going?” Nora replies, “Nowhere for the moment! I’m still looking.” On the table she sees her glasses and phone, but not her key.
“Yesterday it was in my bag. I haven’t seen it anywhere else,” Nora explains. Sam opens the cupboard. The key is there, beside the shopping bag. “There it is!”