Breakdown of À force de chantage, il ne réussit nullement.
il
he
ne
not (used before the verb)
réussir
to succeed
à force de
by dint of / through repeatedly
nullement
by no means
le chantage
the blackmail
Questions & Answers about À force de chantage, il ne réussit nullement.
How does à force de work here, and why does the English translation add the word 'constant'?
Why is there no article before chantage? Shouldn't it be du chantage?
The expression à force de behaves similarly to phrases of quantity. When followed by a general abstract or uncountable noun like chantage, the article is dropped, leaving just de. If it were a specific, modified instance of blackmail, you would include the article, as in à force du chantage qu'il exerce (through the constant blackmail he exerts).
What exactly is ne ... nullement and how is it different from ne ... pas?
Ne ... nullement is a stronger, more formal negative structure meaning 'not in the least,' 'by no means,' or 'absolutely not.' It surrounds the conjugated verb exactly like ne ... pas does, but it adds heavy emphasis to his complete lack of success.
Réussit looks like it could be a past tense. How do we know it means 'is not succeeding'?
For regular -ir verbs like réussir, the third-person singular form is spelled exactly the same in both the present tense (il réussit) and the passé simple (a literary past tense). Since they look identical, you have to rely entirely on context or the provided translation to know it is in the present tense here.
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