Learn French: Ce sont non pas des esclaves, mais des ouvriers qui ont construit la pyramide. - It is not slaves, but workers who built the pyramid.

Ce sont non pas des esclaves, mais des ouvriers qui ont construit la pyramide.

It is not slaves, but workers who built the pyramid.

Breakdown of Ce sont non pas des esclaves, mais des ouvriers qui ont construit la pyramide.

mais

but

des

some (plural indefinite)

Questions & Answers about Ce sont non pas des esclaves, mais des ouvriers qui ont construit la pyramide.

Why does this sentence use non pas instead of making the verb negative with ne... pas?

Using non pas directly contrasts two elements—here, the slaves and the workers. If you said Ce ne sont pas des esclaves, you would simply be negating the verb. non pas creates an emphatic correction meaning 'not this, but that'.

Can I drop the non and just say Ce sont pas des esclaves?

In casual spoken French, people often drop ne from ne... pas, but here non pas is a fixed phrase used for contrasting. You cannot drop non because pas on its own only negates a verb. To negate a specific noun phrase for a contrast, you must use non pas.

Why is it Ce sont instead of C'est at the beginning?

When highlighting a noun using the c'est... qui (it is... who) structure, the verb must match the noun that follows. Because des esclaves is plural, you must use the plural ce sont. You will sometimes hear native speakers use c'est before a plural in informal speech, but ce sont is grammatically correct here.

What is the purpose of the Ce sont... qui... structure?