Questions & Answers about Rien ne semble l'intéresser.
Since this lesson is about pronominal verbs, why isn't s'intéresser used here?
Intéresser shifts in meaning depending on whether it is used as a regular or pronominal verb. As a regular verb, intéresser quelqu'un means "to interest someone" (as seen here with l'intéresser). The pronominal form s'intéresser à flips the perspective to mean "to be interested in". You could express the exact same idea using the pronominal form: Il ne semble s'intéresser à rien (He doesn't seem to be interested in anything).
Why does the sentence start with Rien ne instead of Ne rien?
When rien (nothing) acts as the subject of a sentence, it goes at the very beginning and is immediately followed by ne. You still drop the pas, just like in standard negations. If rien were the object instead of the subject, the ne would come before the verb and rien would follow it, as in Il ne dit rien (He says nothing).
Why is the object pronoun l' placed before intéresser rather than before semble?
In French, object pronouns must be placed immediately before the verb they logically belong to. Here, the pronoun represents the person being interested, not the person "seeming". Because l' is the direct object of the infinitive intéresser, it goes right in front of it, rather than in front of the conjugated verb semble.
Learn Rien ne semble l'intéresser 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