Doing nothing: ne... rien
To say that you are doing "nothing" or "not doing anything," use the negative phrase ne... rien. It works just like the basic negative ne... pas: the two words wrap around the conjugated verb. If the verb starts with a vowel sound, ne becomes n'.
| With the rain and the grey sky, we are doing nothing. | Avec la pluie et le ciel gris, nous ne faisons rien. |
| The house is dark and I am doing nothing. | La maison est sombre et je ne fais rien. |
A boring day indoors
When you are stuck inside watching the rain, it is easy to get bored. Use the reflexive verb s'ennuyer to say you are bored, and the adjective ennuyeux (or ennuyeuse for feminine nouns) to describe something as boring.
| I am watching the rain and I am bored. | Je regarde la pluie et je m'ennuie. |
| This film is boring, we are learning nothing. | Ce film est ennuyeux, nous n'apprenons rien. |
Absolutely nothing and infinitives
You can add the adverb absolument (absolutely) right before rien to emphasize that nothing at all is happening.
If your sentence has a conjugated verb followed by an infinitive (like wanting or going to do something), ne and rien wrap around the first (conjugated) verb, and the infinitive comes at the very end.
| It is a boring day, I want to do absolutely nothing. | C'est une journée ennuyeuse, je ne veux absolument rien faire. |
| It is not raining anymore, but I am going to do absolutely nothing. | Il ne pleut plus, mais je ne vais absolument rien faire. |
Nothing in the past tense
When using the past tense (passé composé), ne and rien wrap around the helper verb (like avoir). The past participle comes after rien.
| He is bored, he did nothing yesterday. | Il s'ennuie, il n'a rien fait hier. |
| We saw nothing, we just did a puzzle. | Nous n'avons rien vu, nous avons juste fait un puzzle. |
