Log inSign up

Le chef n'a pas de patience.

Le chef n'a pas de patience.
The boss doesn't have any patience.
From Lesson 46:Zero quantity (pas de)·French

Questions & Answers about Le chef n'a pas de patience.

Why do we use de here instead of de la for patience?
When a sentence is completely negative and means "not any" or "zero," French replaces the usual articles with de (or d'). In a positive sentence, you would use a partitive article to say Le chef a de la patience (The boss has [some] patience), but in the negative, de la drops down to just de.
Wait, doesn't chef mean a cook in a restaurant?
It can, but in French, un chef more broadly means "a boss," "a chief," or "a manager" in any type of job. English only borrowed the word for the kitchen!
Why is it n'a pas and not ne a pas?
The negative particle ne always drops its e and attaches to the next word if it starts with a vowel or a silent h. Since the verb a (has) starts with a vowel, ne a becomes n'a.
If I wanted to say "doesn't have any rules" (plural), would I change de to des?
No, it would still be de! The rule of changing the article to de after pas (when meaning "not any") applies to plural nouns just as much as uncountable ones. "He doesn't have any rules" translates to Il n'a pas de règles.

Learn Le chef n'a pas de patience 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 →