Eerie and abandoned places
To describe a scary or abandoned place, you will use adjectives like vide (empty), abandonné (abandoned), and hanté (haunted).
| This castle is empty and abandoned. | Ce château est vide et abandonné. |
| There is a scary silence in this village. | Il y a un silence effrayant dans ce village. |
Watch out for things that move in the dark! Use the verb bouger to say "to move" and une ombre for "a shadow."
| A shadow is moving behind the door. | Une ombre bouge derrière la porte. |
Seeing no one: ne... personne
To say "nobody" or "no one," use the negative pair ne... personne. Just like ne... pas, place ne (or n' before a vowel sound) before the conjugated verb, and personne after it.
| I see nobody in the cemetery. | Je ne vois personne dans le cimetière. |
| This hospital is abandoned, there is no one. | Cet hôpital est abandonné, il n'y a personne. |
When nobody does anything: personne ne...
If "nobody" is the subject of your sentence—meaning nobody is the one doing the action—the order changes. Start the sentence with Personne ne (or Personne n'), followed immediately by the verb.
| This house is haunted, nobody lives here. | Cette maison est hantée, personne n'habite ici. |
| Nobody is moving in the empty street. | Personne ne bouge dans la rue vide. |
If you knock (frapper) on a door and get no response, you can use it again here:
| I knock, but nobody answers. | Je frappe, mais personne ne répond. |
Without anyone
You can also use personne after a preposition like sans (without) to mean "without anyone." In this case, it stands alone and you do not need ne.
| The silence is scary without anyone next to me. | Le silence est effrayant sans personne à côté de moi. |
