Elle ne porte ni laine ni cuir.

Questions & Answers about Elle ne porte ni laine ni cuir.

Why is there no pas in this sentence?
Just like with ne ... jamais (never) or ne ... rien (nothing), the ni ... ni ... (neither... nor...) structure replaces pas. You use ne before the verb (porte) and ni before each of the items being excluded.
Why doesn't it say de la laine and du cuir? Aren't partitive articles required here?
Normally, yes! If she were wearing them, you would say Elle porte de la laine et du cuir because you need the partitive article to mean "some" wool or leather. However, the ni ... ni ... structure is an exception: it completely drops partitive articles (du, de la, de l') and indefinite articles (un, une, des).
What if I wanted to say she likes neither the wool nor the leather? Do the articles still disappear?
No, definite articles (le, la, les) do not disappear. If you want to talk about specific items rather than wool and leather in general, you must keep the articles: Elle n'aime ni la laine ni le cuir. You only drop the articles when they mean "some" or "a/an".
Could I add a third item to this list?
Yes! You can keep chaining them together as much as you need. If she also doesn't wear silk (soie), you would just add another ni before it: Elle ne porte ni laine, ni cuir, ni soie.

Learn Elle ne porte ni laine ni cuir and more in French

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • Practice with interactive exercises
  • Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • Learn at your own pace — completely free