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Grammar
Objective: Read and write elevated literary or professional texts without confusing the stylistic ne with actual negation.
| Trigger | Example | Register |
|---|---|---|
| craindre que | Je crains qu'il ne vienne. | formal |
| avoir peur que | J'ai peur qu'il ne soit en retard. | formal |
| avant que | Avant qu'il ne parte, préviens-moi. | formal |
| à moins que | À moins qu'il ne pleuve, nous sortirons. | formal |
| empêcher que | J'empêche qu'il ne parte seul. | formal |
| de peur que | De peur qu'il ne tombe, il marche lentement. | formal |
The ne after a verb of fear is pleonastic and does not negate; adding pas reverses the fear from his arrival to his absence.
The pleonastic ne belongs in the subordinate clause before the verb, not in the main clause where it would be read as a negation.
The ne is pleonastic, and the sentence means that the speaker fears his arrival rather than his absence.
With pas, the ne becomes a true negation, and the meaning reverses: the speaker fears that he will not come.
The verb avoir peur que belongs to the triggers and accepts the pleonastic ne before the subjunctive.
avant que takes the subjunctive, and the pleonastic ne appears in careful writing.
à moins que belongs to the same set, and the pleonastic ne sits before the subjunctive verb.
7 exercises · about 11 minutes
Il faut que belongs to necessity rather than fear or prevention, so the pleonastic ne does not appear in the subordinate clause.
The pleonastic ne does not appear after impersonal expressions of necessity, so the subordinate verb stands alone without any ne before it.
Que elides to qu' before the vowel-initial subject, and careful writing adds the pleonastic ne before the subjunctive verb.
empêcher que introduces a prevented outcome, and the pleonastic ne reinforces the subordinate clause.
The compound phrase de peur que takes the same construction as the simple verb of fear.
The expression il faut que does not take the pleonastic ne, so the subordinate verb stands alone.