Learn French: Si tu ne dis rien, tu éviteras le malheur. - If you say nothing, you will avoid misfortune.

Si tu ne dis rien, tu éviteras le malheur.

If you say nothing, you will avoid misfortune.

Breakdown of Si tu ne dis rien, tu éviteras le malheur.

you (informal singular)

not (used before the verb)

rien

nothing

Questions & Answers about Si tu ne dis rien, tu éviteras le malheur.

How does the "if" structure work in this sentence?

This sentence uses the first conditional, which talks about a likely future result. To do this in French, use si (if) followed by the present tense (tu ne dis rien), and then put the main result in the future tense (tu éviteras).

Why isn't there a pas in tu ne dis rien?

In French, negative words like rien (nothing) replace pas. You use ne before the verb and rien after it, creating the sandwich ne dis rien (say nothing / don't say anything). Saying ne dis pas rien would be a grammatical mistake, similar to using a double negative in English!

How did we get the future tense form éviteras?

For regular -er verbs like éviter (to avoid), you form the future tense by taking the whole infinitive (éviter) and adding the future endings. For tu, the ending is -as, which gives us éviteras (you will avoid).

Why does the French sentence say le malheur when the English translation is just "misfortune"?