KS4 · French · Year 10
Une nouvelle vie en France : negation
Travel and tourism: La France est belle!
Learn it. Recall it. Make it stick.
IllumED Slides
IllumED · 1/8
Your learning goal
I can use 'ne...rien' and 'ne...personne', along with 'ne...pas' and 'ne...jamais', to express a range of negative meanings.
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Une nouvelle vie en France : negation: slides adapted from the imported teaching text; recall questions created from its keywords, learning points and common mistakes. Self-check practice, with no automatic grading or XP. Answers stay on this page and are cleared when you leave.
Original teaching resources
The original illustrated PowerPoint is available as well as the IllumED text slides. It retains the publisher’s design and credits.
Download original PowerPoint ↓What you’ll learn
I can use 'ne...rien' and 'ne...personne', along with 'ne...pas' and 'ne...jamais', to express a range of negative meanings.
Key learning points
- [e] is pronounced liked 'je' and [é] is pronounced like 'écrire'.
- To say 'nothing', use ne...rien. The short form verb goes between the two parts in both single and two-verb structures.
- To say 'no one', use ne...personne. The verb goes between ne and personne in single-verb structures: je n'aide personne.
- In two-verb structures with 'ne ... personne', personne goes to the end, after both verbs: je ne vais dessiner personne.
Words to know
- ne...rien
- negative structure, meaning 'nothing' or 'not anything'
- ne...personne
- negative structure, meaning ‘no one' or 'not anyone'
Common mistakes
All negative structures go around the short form of the verb only in two-verb structures.
Most negatives, such as 'ne...pas', 'ne...jamais' and 'ne...rien', go around the short form of the verb in two-verb structures. 'Ne...personne', however, goes around both verbs.
For parents, carers and teachers
- Use mini whiteboards to practise taking a simple single-verb sentence and making it negative using the four different structures in this lesson. Then try using a two-verb sentence.

