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Non, merci, je ne mange jamais de fruits de mer.

Non, merci, je ne mange jamais de fruits de mer.
No, thank you, I never eat seafood.
From Lesson 62:Never (ne... jamais)·French

Questions & Answers about Non, merci, je ne mange jamais de fruits de mer.

How do you say "never" in this sentence?
To say "never" in French, you use the two-part negative ne ... jamais. Just like ne ... pas (not), these two words wrap around the conjugated verb. Here, they go around mange (eat) to make je ne mange jamais (I never eat).
Why is it de fruits instead of des fruits if "fruits" is plural?
This is a very important rule for negative sentences! Normally, you would say Je mange des fruits de mer using the plural article des (some). But in negative sentences, indefinite and partitive articles like un, une, and des change to just de. Because of the negative word jamais (never), it becomes de fruits.
Does fruits de mer literally mean "fruits of the sea"?
Yes! The French term for "seafood" translates literally to "fruits of the sea". It is almost always used in the plural form, which is why fruits has an "s" and is linked to mer (sea) by the word de (of).
In everyday speech, would a French person say this exactly as written?
In everyday, casual spoken French, people often drop the ne in negative sentences. So you might hear a native speaker simply say Je mange jamais de fruits de mer. However, in writing or polite speech, you should always include the ne.

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