AtelierLe journal · French, understood
English

Language

The course

Updated

Cheat sheet

Personne and rien: a French word-order cheat sheet

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated · About the library

Say nobody and nothing in French. Compare subject and object positions, je n’ai rien vu and je n’ai vu personne, then try five questions.

In short

Use personne for “nobody” and rien for “nothing”. In a full standard written negative, keep ne or n’: Je ne vois personne. Je ne vois rien. These words supply the negative meaning, so leave out pas in these basic patterns.

Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learnRed watch out

Two friends look at a silent plain phone after an unanswered call in a French kitchen.
Personne n’a répondu reports an unanswered call. Illustration: Atelier

Personne et rien · les places à retenir

1 · After a simple verb: person or thing?

The missing person is personne; the missing thing is rien. English often uses “not anyone” or “not anything”.

Je ne connais personne ici.I don’t know anyone here.

Je ne comprends rien.I don’t understand anything.

2 · At the start: a singular subject

Keep ne before the verb. Both personne and rien take a singular verb in these subject patterns.

Personne ne répond.Nobody is answering.

Rien ne fonctionne.Nothing is working.

3 · With an auxiliary: two different positions

In these everyday perfect-tense patterns, rien goes before the participle; personne goes after it.

Je n’ai rien vu.I saw nothing.

Je n’ai vu personne.I saw nobody.

4 · Keep the preposition

The expression still follows its usual construction: parler à and avoir besoin de.

Je n’ai parlé à personne.I didn’t speak to anyone.

Je n’ai besoin de rien.I don’t need anything.

5 · Une personne means a person

With the article une, this is a positive feminine noun. Compare it with the negative pronoun at the beginning of a sentence.

Une personne attend.A person is waiting.

Personne n’attend.Nobody is waiting.

Where do personne and rien go in a sentence?

Après un appel
  1. Lina

    Qui a répondu ?

    Who answered?

  2. Sam

    Personne.

    Nobody.

  3. Lina

    Tu as entendu quelque chose ?

    Did you hear anything?

  4. Sam

    Non, rien.

    No, nothing.

The short replies above have no verb. In a complete standard written sentence, restore the full pattern: Personne n’a répondu. Je n’ai rien entendu. In casual speech you will also hear ne dropped; the sheet keeps it visible so you can see the structure.

Question 1No account needed
Choose “Nobody is coming”.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Personne ne vient.. The negative subject is singular, and personne supplies the negative meaning.

Question 2No account needed
Choose the usual word order for “I saw nothing”.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Je n’ai rien vu.. In this basic compound-tense pattern, rien sits between ai and vu.

Question 3No account needed
Choose the usual word order for “I saw nobody”.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Je n’ai vu personne.. Personne follows the participle vu, unlike rien in the previous question.

Question 4No account needed
Keep the preposition after parler.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Je n’ai parlé à personne.. The verb construction is parler à quelqu’un: keep à in the negative.

Question 5No account needed
What does Une personne attend dehors say?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

A person is waiting outside.. Une personne is a positive noun phrase: the sentence says someone is waiting.

Keep going