Learn French: Il n'y a aucun refuge près du lac. - There is no shelter near the lake.

Il n'y a aucun refuge près du lac.

There is no shelter near the lake.

Breakdown of Il n'y a aucun refuge près du lac.

il y a

there is / there are

not (used before the verb)

Questions & Answers about Il n'y a aucun refuge près du lac.

Why isn't there a pas in this sentence?

The negative structure ne... aucun (not a single / no) completely replaces ne... pas. Using both together is incorrect in French.

Does aucun change depending on the noun?

Yes. Because aucun acts as an adjective here, it must agree with the noun it describes. Refuge is a masculine noun, so we use the masculine aucun. If the noun were feminine, like cabane (cabin), it would be aucune cabane.

Could I use the plural aucuns since we are talking about zero shelters?

No, aucun and aucune are almost always used in the singular because they literally mean "not a single one". You will only see them in the plural with nouns that don't exist in the singular form.

How does the word order work with il y a in a negative sentence?

In the phrase il y a (there is), the pronoun y and the verb a are grouped together. The first part of the negative (n') goes right before the y, and the second part (here, aucun) goes immediately after the verb a.

Why is it du lac and not de le lac?