Questions & Answers about Je ne connais aucun élève ici.
Why is there no pas in this negative sentence?
Just like with ne ... personne (nobody), the word aucun (not a single) replaces pas. You put ne before the verb and aucun directly in front of the noun it describes. How is ne ... aucun different from ne ... personne?
The phrase ne ... personne means nobody in general (for example, Je ne connais personne means I do not know anyone). On the other hand, ne ... aucun points to a specific type of person or thing, meaning not a single one. Here, it pairs with élève to specifically mean not a single student. Why use the verb connaître instead of savoir for 'know'?
In French, connaître is always used when you are familiar with a person, a place, or a thing. Because you are talking about knowing a person (un élève), you must use connaître. The verb savoir is used for knowing facts or knowing how to do an action. Does the word aucun change depending on the noun it describes?
Yes! It must agree with the gender of the noun it is attached to, though it is almost always singular because it means not one. Here, it is masculine to match élève. If it were a feminine noun, like fille (girl), it would change to aucune: Je ne connais aucune fille ici. Learn Je ne connais aucun élève ici and more in French
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