Learn French: Je ne lis guère la marge du document. - I hardly read the margin of the document.

Je ne lis guère la marge du document.

I hardly read the margin of the document.

Breakdown of Je ne lis guère la marge du document.

not (used before the verb)

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

lire

to read

Questions & Answers about Je ne lis guère la marge du document.

How does ne... guère work in this sentence compared to standard negation?

It wraps around the conjugated verb lis exactly like ne... pas, but it changes the meaning to hardly or barely instead of not. It acts as a complete negative package, meaning it replaces pas entirely, so you would never write ne pas guère.

Could I use presque pas instead of guère here?

Yes, saying Je ne lis presque pas la marge means exactly the same thing and is much more natural in everyday spoken French. The structure ne... guère belongs to a more formal, written, or literary register.

This is a negative sentence, so why is it la marge instead of de marge?

The rule about changing articles to de after a negation (like guère, pas, or jamais) only applies to indefinite articles (un, une, des) and partitive articles (du, de la, de l'). Here, la marge uses a definite article because it refers to a specific, defined thing (the margin of this document), so it simply stays la.

Where would guère be placed if this sentence were in the passé composé?

It behaves just like pas and is placed between the conjugated auxiliary verb and the past participle. If you changed the tense, it would become Je n'ai guère lu la marge du document.