Learn French: Rien n'est intact ici, à part quelques bâtiments en bois. - Nothing is intact here, apart from a few wooden buildings.

Rien n'est intact ici, à part quelques bâtiments en bois.

Nothing is intact here, apart from a few wooden buildings.

Breakdown of Rien n'est intact ici, à part quelques bâtiments en bois.

not (used before the verb)

quelques

a few, some

Questions & Answers about Rien n'est intact ici, à part quelques bâtiments en bois.

Could I use sauf instead of à part in this sentence?

Yes! In this context, sauf (except) and à part (apart from / except for) mean exactly the same thing. You could substitute sauf quelques bâtiments without changing the meaning of the sentence at all.

Why is it Rien n'est rather than just Rien est or Rien n'est pas?

When rien (nothing) is the subject of the sentence, it requires the negative particle ne (or n' before a vowel) right before the verb. You drop pas because rien already makes the sentence negative; adding pas would be like saying 'Nothing is not intact.'

Why use en in bâtiments en bois (wooden buildings)?

In French, you use the preposition en to say what material something is physically made of. You might occasionally see de used in literature for materials, but en is the standard, everyday way to say 'made of wood.'

What is the adjective intact agreeing with here?

It agrees with Rien. Even though Rien means 'nothing', it is treated as a masculine singular pronoun in French grammar. Because of this, the adjective intact must stay in its default masculine singular form.