Je n'ai visité ni l'Europe ni l'Afrique.

From Lesson 333:The continents·French

Questions & Answers about Je n'ai visité ni l'Europe ni l'Afrique.

Why is there no pas after the verb?
The structure ne ... ni ... ni replaces the standard ne ... pas to mean neither ... nor. Adding pas here (like je n'ai pas visité ni...) would be grammatically incorrect.
Why do Europe and Afrique keep the article l'? Doesn't ni... ni usually drop articles?
The ne ... ni ... ni construction only drops indefinite articles (un, une, des) and partitive articles (du, de la, des). Definite articles (le, la, les, l') are always kept. Since continents require definite articles, l'Europe and l'Afrique keep their l'.
Why don't we use the preposition en before the continents here?
The verb visiter takes a direct object when talking about places. Therefore, you use definite articles rather than prepositions like en. You only use en with verbs of movement or location, such as Je suis allé en Europe.
How would the word order change if I wanted to say I neither ate nor drank?
In our example, ni connects two nouns (the places), so they appear after the full verb. If you want to connect two actions in the passé composé, ni goes before each past participle: Je n'ai ni mangé ni bu.

Learn Je n'ai visité ni l'Europe ni l'Afrique 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