Chacun and aucun are two of the most precise indefinite pronouns French offers. Chacun picks out a single member of a set and treats it individually — "each one." Aucun negates the entire set, member by member — "none of them, not a single one." Together they sit at the opposite extremes of the quantification scale: tous lumps all members together, chacun singles each one out, aucun rules every one of them out.
For English speakers, the difficulty here is twofold. First, chacun and aucun both require gender agreement (chacun / chacune, aucun / aucune) where English has a single neutral form ("each one," "none"). Second, both are strictly singular — there is no chacuns or aucuns in modern French. Saying "none of them are coming" with a plural verb feels natural in English but is wrong in French: aucun n'est venu, singular.
This page covers both pronouns and the chacun pour soi / aucun de mes amis type constructions, with careful attention to where they appear after prepositions and how they interact with the partitive de.
Chacun / chacune: each one
Chacun (masculine) and chacune (feminine) mean "each one" — the singular individuation of a known group. The form is always singular; you cannot pluralize chacun. Agreement is with the underlying noun being individuated, not with anything in the surrounding sentence.
Chacun a ses préférences personnelles.
Each person has their own preferences.
Chacune des candidates a passé un entretien.
Each of the candidates had an interview.
Les enfants ont chacun reçu un cadeau différent.
The children each received a different present.
Chacun de mes voisins a une histoire à raconter.
Each of my neighbors has a story to tell.
When chacun is the subject, the verb is third-person singular: chacun a (not chacun ont). When chacun sits in apposition to a plural subject (as in the third example, Les enfants ont chacun reçu), the verb agrees with the main subject and chacun is just an additional individuating phrase.
Chacun + de / d'entre: each of
To say "each of [a group]," French uses chacun de + the group, or chacun d'entre + a disjunctive pronoun (nous, vous, eux, elles).
Chacun de mes amis a apporté un plat différent au dîner.
Each of my friends brought a different dish to dinner.
Chacune des étudiantes a reçu une bourse.
Each of the female students received a scholarship.
Chacun d'entre nous doit faire sa part du travail.
Each of us must do their share of the work.
Chacune d'entre vous est responsable de son équipe.
Each of you is responsible for her team.
The choice between de + noun phrase and d'entre + disjunctive pronoun is determined by what follows: a noun phrase takes de, a pronoun takes d'entre. Chacun de nous is also acceptable, but chacun d'entre nous is the more idiomatic and slightly more formal version.
Chacun pour soi and other fixed phrases
A handful of fixed expressions with chacun are extremely high-frequency:
Chacun pour soi et Dieu pour tous.
Every man for himself and God for all.
Chacun à son goût.
To each their own taste.
Chacun son tour.
Each in turn / Wait your turn.
À chacun sa peine.
To each their own struggle.
Chacun fait ce qui lui plaît.
Each does what pleases them.
The à chacun / chacun à construction with possessive son / sa is particularly idiomatic — note how the possessive agrees with the implied noun, not with chacun: chacun à son goût (each to their own [taste]), where son is masculine because goût is masculine. Chacun à sa manière — sa feminine because manière is feminine.
Aucun / aucune: none
Aucun (masculine) and aucune (feminine) mean "none" or "not one." Like personne and rien, aucun is a negative pronoun and pairs with the particle ne in standard French. Like chacun, it is always singular — aucuns exists only in archaic or literary contexts and should never be used in ordinary writing.
Aucun de mes collègues n'est venu à la réunion.
None of my colleagues came to the meeting.
Aucune des solutions proposées ne fonctionne.
None of the proposed solutions works.
Je n'en connais aucun personnellement.
I don't know any of them personally.
Il n'a aucune envie de partir maintenant.
He has no desire to leave now.
The pattern with ne is exactly parallel to personne and rien: aucun (subject) + ne + verb, or ne + verb + aucun (object). In compound tenses, aucun sits after the past participle, like personne, not before it like rien.
Je n'ai vu aucun de tes amis hier soir.
I didn't see any of your friends last night.
Elle n'a reçu aucune réponse à sa lettre.
She received no reply to her letter.
On n'a trouvé aucune preuve de fraude.
We found no evidence of fraud.
Aucun with de and d'entre
Like chacun, aucun combines with de + noun phrase or d'entre + disjunctive pronoun to specify the set being negated.
Aucun de mes voisins n'a entendu le bruit.
None of my neighbors heard the noise.
Aucune de mes amies ne parle italien.
None of my female friends speaks Italian.
Aucun d'entre nous n'a pensé à apporter une carte.
None of us thought to bring a map.
Aucune d'entre vous ne sait conduire ?
None of you (women) knows how to drive?
The verb is always singular: aucun ne sait, aucune n'a pensé. This is non-negotiable in standard French.
Aucun with the partitive en
When aucun refers back to a noun mentioned earlier, you typically pair it with the clitic en, which carries the partitive sense.
Des amis comme lui ? Je n'en ai aucun.
Friends like him? I don't have any.
Tu as des nouvelles de lui ? — Non, je n'en ai aucune.
Do you have news from him? — No, I don't have any.
Vous avez des questions ? — Aucune, merci.
Do you have any questions? — None, thanks.
The pattern je n'en ai aucun(e) is the standard way to say "I have none of them." The en picks up the noun (here amis or nouvelles), and aucun takes the gender of that noun. The standalone aucune (in the third example) is the elliptical answer: no verb, no ne, just the negative quantifier.
Distinguishing tous, chacun, aucun
These three pronouns mark three different relationships to a set:
| Pronoun | Meaning | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| tous / toutes | all of them | collective totality |
| chacun / chacune | each one | individuated totality |
| aucun / aucune | none of them | negative quantification |
Tous mes amis sont venus à la fête.
All my friends came to the party.
Chacun de mes amis a apporté quelque chose.
Each of my friends brought something.
Aucun de mes amis n'a oublié son cadeau.
None of my friends forgot their present.
The first sentence presents the friends as a collective unit. The second presents them as individuals, each with their own action. The third negates the action across every single member of the set.
This distinction matters because the verb agreement and the surrounding grammar change accordingly. Tous triggers plural agreement (tous sont venus); chacun and aucun trigger singular (chacun a apporté, aucun n'a oublié).
Pronoun chacun / aucun vs determiner chaque / aucun
A common source of confusion: chaque and aucun exist as both determiners (before a noun) and pronouns (standing alone). Chacun is only a pronoun — it never appears before a noun. Aucun serves both functions.
| Form | Determiner | Pronoun |
|---|---|---|
| each | chaque (invariable) | chacun / chacune |
| no, none | aucun / aucune | aucun / aucune |
Chaque jour, je bois un café.
Each day, I drink a coffee.
Chacun de mes jours commence par un café.
Each of my days begins with a coffee.
Je n'ai aucun ami à Lyon.
I have no friends in Lyon.
Des amis à Lyon ? Je n'en ai aucun.
Friends in Lyon? I have none.
The determiner chaque is invariable in form (chaque homme, chaque femme, chaque enfant — same form) but the pronoun chacun / chacune inflects for gender. The determiner aucun (aucun homme, aucune femme) inflects, and so does the pronoun (aucun n'est venu, aucune n'est venue).
Aucun in elliptical replies
Like rien, aucun can stand alone as a negative reply when the verb is implicit.
Combien de réponses correctes ? — Aucune.
How many correct answers? — None.
Tu as des regrets ? — Aucun.
Do you have regrets? — None.
Des nouvelles de Paul ? — Aucune depuis lundi.
Any news from Paul? — None since Monday.
In these elliptical answers, the gender of aucun / aucune still has to match the implied noun: réponses is feminine plural, so the standalone reply is aucune. Regrets is masculine plural, so the reply is aucun. Even with no verb, gender agreement is non-negotiable.
Common mistakes
❌ Aucun de mes amis ne sont venus.
Incorrect — aucun takes singular verb agreement.
✅ Aucun de mes amis n'est venu.
None of my friends came.
The verb after aucun is always third-person singular, regardless of how many people are in the underlying set. English plural-verb agreement after "none of" is a transfer error.
❌ Chacuns ont leur opinion.
Incorrect — chacun has no plural form.
✅ Chacun a son opinion.
Each one has their opinion.
Chacun / chacune are strictly singular. The plural chacuns does not exist in modern French. The verb agreement is third-person singular.
❌ J'ai aucun ami ici.
Incorrect — missing the ne with aucun.
✅ Je n'ai aucun ami ici.
I have no friends here.
Aucun requires ne before the verb in standard French, just like personne and rien. The ne-drop happens in casual speech but is incorrect in writing.
❌ Chacun des filles est venue.
Incorrect — should be feminine chacune to match filles.
✅ Chacune des filles est venue.
Each of the girls came.
The pronoun must agree in gender with the noun it individuates. Filles is feminine, so chacune. The masculine default is wrong here.
❌ Chacun à son goûts.
Incorrect — possessive should agree with the singular goût.
✅ Chacun à son goût.
To each their own taste.
In the chacun à son + noun construction, the noun is singular (since chacun individuates one item per person). Goût not goûts; the possessive son matches.
Key takeaways
Chacun (masculine) and chacune (feminine) mean "each one" — they individuate members of a known set, always singular, always with singular verb agreement. Aucun (masculine) and aucune (feminine) mean "none" — they negate the entire set, require ne, and are also strictly singular. Both combine with de + noun phrase or d'entre + disjunctive pronoun: chacun de mes amis, aucun d'entre nous. The pronoun chacun exists only as a pronoun (not a determiner — that role is played by invariable chaque); aucun serves both functions. Strict singular agreement is the most common transfer error English speakers make on this page.
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