Question 1

How does the negative ne ... rien work with the word absolument here?

Accepted Answer

Just like ne ... pas (not), the ne and rien wrap around the conjugated verb. Here, they wrap around fait (makes/does). When you add an adverb like absolument (absolutely), it usually goes right after the verb, giving us ne fait absolument rien (doing absolutely nothing). Notice that you drop the word pas completely when using rien.

Question 2

Why is there an s' before ennuie?

Accepted Answer

s'ennuyer is a reflexive verb, which literally means "to bore oneself." In English, it is much more natural to say "to be bored." Because the subject is on, we use the reflexive pronoun se, which drops its "e" and becomes s' before the vowel in ennuie.

Question 3

The translation says "We are bored", but doesn't on mean "one"?

Accepted Answer

Yes, literally on means "one", but in everyday spoken French, on is almost always used instead of nous to mean "we." Keep in mind that even when it means "we", it still takes the exact same singular verb form as il or elle (which gives us on s'ennuie and on ne fait).

Question 4

We have à côté de la cheminée here. What happens if the thing we are next to is masculine?

Accepted Answer

The phrase à côté de means "next to." Because cheminée (fireplace) is a feminine noun, we use de la. If it were a masculine word, like radiateur (radiator), the de and le would have to combine into du, making it à côté du radiateur.

On s'ennuie, on ne fait absolument rien à côté de la cheminée.

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