Learn French: Le suspect n'a vu personne, mais il est coupable de ce crime. - The suspect saw no one, but he is guilty of this crime.

Le suspect n'a vu personne, mais il est coupable de ce crime.

The suspect saw no one, but he is guilty of this crime.

Breakdown of Le suspect n'a vu personne, mais il est coupable de ce crime.

Questions & Answers about Le suspect n'a vu personne, mais il est coupable de ce crime.

Why does personne come after the past participle vu?

In the passé composé, the negative word personne (nobody/no one) must go after the past participle. This is a key difference from rien (nothing) and pas (not), which get sandwiched between the helper verb (a) and the past participle (vu). Because of this rule, we say Il n'a vu personne but Il n'a rien vu.

Where is the pas in n'a vu personne?

When you use a negative word like personne (nobody) or rien (nothing), you always drop the pas. The structure ne ... personne completely replaces ne ... pas to mean "saw no one" or "didn't see anyone".

Why is it de ce crime instead of pour ce crime?

Just like in English where someone is guilty "of" a crime, French uses the exact same logic: coupable de (guilty of). While a French speaker might understand if you used pour (for), coupable de is the correct and natural phrase to use here.

Why use ce before crime?

Ce is a pointing word (called a demonstrative adjective) that means "this" or "that". Because crime is a masculine noun in French, we use ce. If you were pointing out a feminine noun, you would use cette instead.