Learn French: Elle se débarrasse du bazar, elle ne garde que ses vêtements. - She gets rid of the clutter, she only keeps her clothes.

Elle se débarrasse du bazar, elle ne garde que ses vêtements.

She gets rid of the clutter, she only keeps her clothes.

Breakdown of Elle se débarrasse du bazar, elle ne garde que ses vêtements.

elle

she

not (used before the verb)

son

his/her/its

of the / from the (masculine singular, with plural des)

Questions & Answers about Elle se débarrasse du bazar, elle ne garde que ses vêtements.

Why is there no pas after garde?

The structure ne ... que means "only." When you use this structure, que takes the place of pas. Think of it like saying "she keeps nothing but her clothes."

Where exactly do ne and que go?

In this sentence, ne goes before the conjugated verb (garde) and que goes right before the thing being restricted, which is ses vêtements (her clothes).

Could I use seulement instead of ne ... que?

Yes! You could say elle garde seulement ses vêtements, which means exactly the same thing. However, ne ... que is extremely common in both spoken and written French, so it is important to master.

Why is it du bazar and not just le bazar?

The verb phrase "to get rid of" is se débarrasser de. Because bazar is a masculine noun (le bazar), the preposition de and the article le must combine into the mandatory contraction du.

Why is there a se before débarrasse?