Question 1

Why does this sentence say personne ne répond instead of just personne répond?

Accepted Answer

In French, negative pronouns like personne (nobody) usually need to be paired with ne before the verb. Even though personne is the subject here and comes first, the ne is still required right before the verb répond to complete the negative meaning.

Question 2

Where did pas go? Shouldn't a negative sentence have ne ... pas?

Accepted Answer

The word personne replaces pas. While ne ... pas simply means 'not', the structure ne ... personne means 'nobody'. You cannot use both together here, or you would be making a double negative like 'nobody doesn't answer'.

Question 3

How do I know which verb form to use after personne?

Accepted Answer

Whenever personne is the subject of the sentence (like 'nobody' is here), you conjugate the verb in the third-person singular form. That is why we use répond, which is the exact same form you would use for il (he) or elle (she).

Question 4

I learned before that personne means 'a person'. How can it mean 'nobody'?

Accepted Answer

It does double duty! If you see it with an article, like une personne, it is a regular noun meaning 'a person'. But when it is used as a pronoun without an article and paired with ne, it flips to mean 'nobody' or 'no one'.

Je frappe, mais personne ne répond.

Breakdown of Je frappe, mais personne ne répond.

Questions & Answers about Je frappe, mais personne ne répond.

Learn Je frappe, mais personne ne répond and more in French