Articles after Negatives
After negatives, the definite article does not change:
-
Je n'aime pas les avions. I don't like planes.
But both the indefinite and partitive articles are usually reduced to de:
-
Elle ne veut pas de soupe. She doesn't want any soup.
-
Je n'ai plus d'argent. I don't have any money left.
However, for emphasis, one can use pas un to indicate not
a single:
-
Quel beau ciel! Il n'y a pas un nuage! What a sky!
There's not a single cloud.
In rare cases, one may use a negative to contrast with an affirmative;
in this case both nouns will be modified by the full partitive:
-
Non, je n'ai pas planté des choux, mais des tomates!
No, I didn't plant cabbages, but rather tomatoes!
After ni... ni... the indefinite and partitive articles disappear
altogether:
-
Elle ne prend ni lait ni sucre avec son café.
She takes neither sugar nor milk with her coffee.
Also, after the verbs être to be,
paraître to seem, and
sembler
to seem, the articles are unchanged.
-
Mais ce n'est pas une raison! But that's no reason!
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