e.v.e.1 | French - Learn French in a friendly community! | Page 1

unreal sandBOT Oct 10, 2024, 2:13 AM

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Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

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Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.

full jewel Oct 10, 2024, 2:25 AM

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with personne, it would have to be à, as the verb would have to be compatible with à quelqu'un in the first place.

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but you have a point, i can't think of anything else for aucun that isnt à

je n'ai aucun livre à te donner

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but the thing is with ne...jamais passé composé comes into play

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so theres that which doesnt take preposition

je n'ai jamais vu cette vidéo

vernal lava Oct 10, 2024, 2:29 AM

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« à + verb » can be used in a passive sense, 'to be + verb', so here « personne » acts as an object that is to be done with the infinitive, which also happens with « rien » because these two refer to things.
« Je n'ai personne à appeler. »
« Je n'ai rien à dire. »
The other negative constructions only denote a negativity and don't carry an object. « Je n'ai pas » : What is it that you don't have? There's no object there, it's incomplete. « Je n'ai pas de livres », now that makes sense. What you don't have are books. Now with an object, we can put in an infinitive:
« Je n'ai pas de livres à te donner. »
Same thing applies to « aucun.e » :
« Je n'ai aucun livre à te donner. »
Saying « je n'ai aucun » would just make no sense.

(Sorry flutters for taking your example)

full jewel Oct 10, 2024, 2:31 AM

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adding to this passé composé does not fall into this rule when you negate it.

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je n'ai pas vu

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its evident but i said this with jamais

vernal lava Oct 10, 2024, 2:51 AM

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Note that this construction only works with transitive verbs

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cuz it's a passive construction

vernal lava Oct 10, 2024, 2:52 AM

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full jewel adding to this passé composé does not fall into this rule when you negate it.

It does because you put « ne … pas ». What works for this is if you have an object with that negation or if your negation already implies an object like « ne … personne » or « ne … rien »

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« Je n'ai vu personne à tuer »
'I didn't see anyone to kill / I saw no one [to kill/to be killed]'

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« Je n'ai rien vu à détruire »
(I didn't see anything to destroy / I saw nothing [to destroy/to be destroyed]'

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« Je n'ai pas de livres à te donner. »
'I didn't have any books to be given to you.'

#e.v.e.1