Breakdown of Ce chapitre est illisible, je n'aperçois guère la typographie.
je
I
être
to be
ne
not (used before the verb)
ce
this (before a noun)
le
him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)
guère
hardly
la typographie
the typography
apercevoir
to perceive
illisible
illegible
le chapitre
the chapter
Questions & Answers about Ce chapitre est illisible, je n'aperçois guère la typographie.
Why isn't there a pas in the second half of the sentence?
The word guère (hardly/barely) is a negative word that replaces pas. Just like ne... pas, the two parts of the negation surround the conjugated verb, giving us je n'aperçois guère.
Why use apercevoir here instead of just voir (to see)?
While voir is the general word for "to see," apercevoir means "to catch sight of," "to glimpse," or "to make out." It highlights the physical effort of trying to read the bad print, which pairs nicely with ne... guère (hardly).
Is ne... guère common in everyday spoken French?
It is generally reserved for formal or literary French. In everyday conversation, you are much more likely to hear à peine used to mean "hardly" or "barely," as in je vois à peine la typographie.
How is the word illisible formed?
It is built from lisible (readable or legible), which comes from the verb lire (to read). The negative prefix il- is added to mean "unreadable" or "illegible." Note that the "l" is doubled when adding this prefix to a word starting with "l".
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