'Ne' Means Nothing But Something

In French, you often find constructions with this structure:

ne + verb + word

The "ne" does not actually have any meaning. Instead it says to you "Watch out! Something is coming after the verb and that will change the meaning of the sentence".

Example 1

Je ne sais pas.
"Je [WATCH OUT! Here comes pas.]"

"Pas" means "not". So, the sentence basically says "I know not". In other words, it means "I do not know".


Example 2

Je n'ai jamais etudié japonais.
"Je [WATCH OUT! Here comes jamais.]"

I have never studied Japanese.


Example 3

Je n'ai aucun argent.
"Je [WATCH OUT! Here comes aucun.]"

I have no money./I do not have any money.


Example 4

Je ne lui parle plus.
"Je [WATCH OUT! Here comes plus.]"

I do not speak to him anymore./I no longer speak to him.


Example 5

Je n'en ai plus.
"Je [WATCH OUT! Here comes plus.]"

I do not have any more./I no longer have any.


Example 6

Je n'ai vu personne.
"Je [WATCH OUT! Here comes personne.]"

I did not see anyone.


Example 7

"Je ne regrette rien." - Edith Piaf
"Je [WATCH OUT! Here comes rien.]"

I regret nothing./I do not regret anything.


Example 8

Je n'en veux qu'un.
"Je [WATCH OUT! Here comes que.]"

I only want one.


Example 9

Il ne parle que russe.
"Il [WATCH OUT! Here comes que.]"

He speaks only Russian.


TIP: It is sometimes difficult for English speakers to get their heads around the construction "ne...que", meaning only. The reason is that in English, "only" is one word and we keep thinking that "ne que" should somehow be one word.

One way to think about this construction is to pretend that "ne" means "no" or "not" and that "que" means "but". Have a look at this example:

Je ne veux qu'un chocolat.
I no want but one chocolate.

If we improve the English translation above a bit, we have: I do not want but one chocolate, i.e. I want but one chocolate, i.e. I want only one chocolate.

A different way to think about the construction is to tell yourself that "que" means "only" and that "ne" has no meaning; instead "ne" warns us that something, in this case "que", is coming.