Log inSign up

Cet étudiant n'a pas de chance.

Cet étudiant n'a pas de chance.
This student doesn't have any luck.
From Lesson 46:Zero quantity (pas de)·French

Questions & Answers about Cet étudiant n'a pas de chance.

Why is it pas de chance and not pas de la chance?
Because of the negative pas. In affirmative sentences, you use a partitive article like de la for uncountable nouns (like de la chance meaning "some luck"). But when you use an absolute negation with verbs like avoir (to have), the article changes to a simple de. So "some luck" becomes "not any luck" (pas de chance).
Why does the sentence use cet instead of ce for "this"?
The word étudiant is masculine, so normally you would use ce for "this" (like ce garçon). However, because étudiant starts with a vowel, French uses cet instead so the words flow together nicely when spoken. If it were a feminine noun, you would use cette.
Does French literally say "have luck" instead of "be lucky"?
Exactly! In English, we often say someone "is lucky" using the verb "to be". In French, the standard expression is avoir de la chance (literally "to have some luck"). To say someone is unlucky, you just make the verb negative, like we see here with n'a pas de chance.
Why is there an apostrophe in n'a?
The negative word ne drops its "e" and gets an apostrophe because the verb a (has) starts with a vowel. Saying ne a is hard to pronounce smoothly, so French naturally shortens it to n'a.

Learn Cet étudiant n'a pas de chance 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 →