Learn French: L'injure qu'elle a reçue n'est aucunement justifiée. - The insult that she received is in no way justified.

L'injure qu'elle a reçue n'est aucunement justifiée.

The insult that she received is in no way justified.

Breakdown of L'injure qu'elle a reçue n'est aucunement justifiée.

not (used before the verb)

Questions & Answers about L'injure qu'elle a reçue n'est aucunement justifiée.

Why does reçue have an extra e at the end?

In French, when a direct object comes before the verb in a compound tense like the passé composé, the past participle must agree with it. Here, the direct object is qu' (standing for L'injure, which is feminine singular), so we add an e to reçu to make it reçue.

Is injure a false friend in this sentence?

Yes. While it looks like the English word 'injury' (which implies physical harm), une injure usually means a verbal insult or a slur. If you want to talk about a physical injury, you would use une blessure.

How does the negation n' ... aucunement work here?

Aucunement is a strong negative adverb that means 'in no way' or 'not at all.' Just like with ne ... pas, the n' goes before the conjugated verb, and aucunement goes after it. It replaces pas to add a much stronger, slightly more formal emphasis.

Could I use pas du tout instead of aucunement?

Yes, n'est pas du tout justifiée would mean exactly the same thing. Aucunement is simply a slightly more elevated or formal way of expressing total negation.