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Je n'ai rien pris, je suis innocent !

Je n'ai rien pris, je suis innocent !
I didn't take anything, I am innocent!
From Lesson 129:Past tense with negative pronouns (je n'ai rien vu)·French

Questions & Answers about Je n'ai rien pris, je suis innocent !

Why is rien placed between ai and pris?
In the passé composé (past tense), short negative pronouns like rien (nothing/anything) go between the helper verb (ai) and the past participle (pris). If you used a longer pronoun like personne (nobody/anybody), it would go after the past participle: Je n'ai vu personne.
Where is the pas in the first part of the sentence?
When you use a negative word like rien (nothing) or jamais (never), it replaces pas. You use ne (or n') before the helper verb, but you drop the pas. So it is Je n'ai rien pris, not Je n'ai pas rien pris.
Is pris the past tense of a regular verb?
No, pris is the irregular past participle of the verb prendre (to take). Since prendre does not follow the regular verb rules in the past tense, its past participle is one you just have to memorize!
If a woman were saying this sentence, would anything change?
The first half would stay exactly the same, but the adjective innocent would need an e at the end to match the female speaker: Je suis innocente ! Adding that e also means you would clearly pronounce the t sound at the end of the word.

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