Breakdown of On ne trouve jamais les tire-bouchons !
on
one / we (informal)
ne
not (used before the verb)
trouver
to find
jamais
never / ever
Questions & Answers about On ne trouve jamais les tire-bouchons !
Why does only bouchons get an s in les tire-bouchons?
Does the noun in a verb-noun compound always become plural?
Since the 1990 French spelling reform, yes! Previously, the plural depended on whether the noun logically represented multiple things. Now, the official rule simplifies this: you generally just add an s to the noun at the end of the compound when it becomes plural, making words like les tire-bouchons perfectly regular under the new rules.
Why is jamais used here without pas?
The word jamais (never) forms its own negative structure that replaces pas. The construction ne ... jamais wraps around the conjugated verb exactly like ne ... pas, so you never use them together.
Why is the verb trouve singular when the sentence translates to 'We never find'?