Log inSign up

Il ne veut ni la chemise bleue ni le pantalon rouge.

Il ne veut ni la chemise bleue ni le pantalon rouge.
He wants neither the blue shirt nor the red pants.
From Lesson 197:Multiple negations (ne... ni... ni...)·French

Questions & Answers about Il ne veut ni la chemise bleue ni le pantalon rouge.

Why isn't there a pas in this sentence?
When using the multiple negation ne... ni... ni... (neither... nor...), the word pas is dropped. You still need ne before the verb (ne veut), but the ni... ni... structure completely takes the place of pas.
I notice it says ni la chemise. Do we always keep the article with ni... ni...?
You keep definite articles (le, la, les) because they point to specific items, like "the blue shirt" here. However, if a sentence uses indefinite articles (un, une, des) or partitive articles (du, de la), those articles are completely dropped after ni.
Why is pantalon singular when the English translation says "pants"?
Unlike English, which treats pants or trousers as plural, French treats a single pair of pants as a singular noun (le pantalon). If you wrote les pantalons, it would mean multiple pairs of pants.
Why do bleue and rouge come after the nouns they describe?
In French, adjectives for colors are placed after the noun. Notice also that bleue gets an extra e to agree with the feminine noun la chemise, while rouge already ends in an e and works for the masculine noun le pantalon without any changes.

Learn Il ne veut ni la chemise bleue ni le pantalon rouge 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
Start learning French →