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Avec la pluie et le ciel gris, nous ne faisons rien.

Avec la pluie et le ciel gris, nous ne faisons rien.
With the rain and the grey sky, we are doing nothing.
From Lesson 111:Negative pronouns (ne... rien)·French

Questions & Answers about Avec la pluie et le ciel gris, nous ne faisons rien.

Why isn't there a pas in nous ne faisons rien?
In French, the negative word rien (nothing) replaces pas. When you use the ne ... rien structure, you must drop the pas. Saying nous ne faisons pas rien would be a mistake, similar to a double negative in English!
Can nous ne faisons rien also translate to "we aren't doing anything"?
Yes! Because French doesn't have a separate "-ing" tense, nous faisons means both "we do" and "we are doing". In English, "we are doing nothing" and "we aren't doing anything" mean the exact same thing, so both translations work perfectly for ne ... rien.
Why is the adjective placed after the noun in le ciel gris?
In French, most adjectives go after the noun they describe. This is especially strict for colors. So instead of "the grey sky", you literally say "the sky grey" (le ciel gris).
I learned that verbs ending in "-re" follow a certain pattern. Is faisons following that rule?
No, faisons comes from the verb faire (to do / to make), which is highly irregular. Even though it ends in "-re", it doesn't follow the regular "-re" verb rules, so its forms like nous faisons just need to be memorized.

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