Learn French: Il n'y a pas de lac ici.

Il n'y a pas de lac ici.

There is no lake here.

Breakdown of Il n'y a pas de lac ici.

not (used before the verb)

pas

not (used after the verb)

Questions & Answers about Il n'y a pas de lac ici.

Why is it de lac instead of un lac?

In French, when you negate a sentence with un or une (a/an), those words change to de. So, while "there is a lake" is il y a un lac, "there is no lake" or "there is not a lake" becomes il n'y a pas de lac.

Where do the negative words go when negating il y a?

The negative words ne and pas must surround both the pronoun y (there) and the verb a (has). Together, they form the set phrase il n'y a pas (there is not / there are not).

Why is it written as n'y instead of ne y?

The negative word ne drops its e and uses an apostrophe because the next word, y, acts like a vowel. This makes the phrase flow more smoothly when spoken.

Would the phrase change if I wanted to say "There are no lakes here" (plural)?

The phrase il n'y a pas de stays exactly the same whether you mean "no lake" or "no lakes". You would just add an s to the noun to make it plural: Il n'y a pas de lacs ici. Because the s is silent, it sounds exactly the same when spoken!