ELONIO
Log inSign up

Nous sommes végétariens, nous ne mangeons pas de viande.

Nous sommes végétariens, nous ne mangeons pas de viande.
We are vegetarians; we don't eat meat.
From Lesson 46:Zero quantity (pas de)·French

Questions & Answers about Nous sommes végétariens, nous ne mangeons pas de viande.

Why is it pas de viande instead of pas de la viande?
Normally, you use the partitive article de la to mean some meat (de la viande). But when you make a sentence completely negative, saying you do not eat ANY of it, articles like un, une, des, du, and de la change to just de (or d'). This shows an absolute zero quantity.
Why is there an extra 'e' in mangeons? Doesn't the nous form just add -ons?
You are right that the standard ending is -ons. However, for verbs ending in -ger like manger (to eat), we must keep the soft 'g' sound. If we wrote mangons, it would have a hard 'g' sound like in the English word 'go'. Adding the 'e' makes it mangeons and keeps the pronunciation correct.
Why is there no article like des before végétariens?
In French, when you use the verb être (to be) to state someone's profession, nationality, religion, or core lifestyle (like being a vegetarian), you drop the article. You just attach the word directly to the verb, similar to saying Je suis médecin (I am a doctor).
Why does végétariens end in an 's'?
Because it describes nous (we), which is a plural subject. In French, nouns and adjectives that describe people must match the number of people. Since 'we' means more than one person, we add a silent 's' to the end of the word.

Learn Nous sommes végétariens, nous ne mangeons pas de viande and more in French

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning French →