Questions & Answers about Je ne mange rien ce soir.
Why is there no pas in this negative sentence?
In French, when you use a negative word like rien (nothing/anything) or jamais (never), it replaces pas. Just like the ne... jamais structure you are learning, ne and rien wrap around the verb like a sandwich: ne mange rien. Could I translate this sentence literally as 'I eat nothing tonight'?
Yes! In French, Je ne mange rien literally means 'I eat nothing'. In English, it often sounds more natural to say 'I am not eating anything', but the French sentence structure is much closer to 'I eat nothing'. Why is mange translated as 'am eating' instead of 'eat'?
French doesn't have a separate tense for actions happening right now (the '-ing' form). The present tense verb mange can mean either 'eat' or 'am eating'. Because of the context of plans for ce soir (tonight), 'am not eating' makes the most sense in English. What does ce mean in ce soir?
Ce is a pointing word that means 'this'. So ce soir literally translates to 'this evening', which is exactly how French speakers say 'tonight'. Learn Je ne mange rien ce soir and more in French
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