Il attend, non pas que Paul refuse, mais pour confirmer.

He waits, not because Paul refuses, but to confirm.

Breakdown of Il attend, non pas que Paul refuse, mais pour confirmer.

• Paul: Paul
• il: he
• mais: but
• pour: in order to

Questions & Answers about Il attend, non pas que Paul refuse, mais pour confirmer.

What does non pas ... mais ... mean?

It means not ... but rather ... or not so much ... as .... It is a contrastive structure used to correct or replace one idea with another.

So here, the speaker is setting up one interpretation and then replacing it with a different one.

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What does non pas que mean specifically?

Non pas que is a common pattern meaning not that.... It often introduces an explanation or interpretation that the speaker wants to reject.

For example:

• Non pas que je sois fatigué, mais... = Not that I’m tired, but...

So in your sentence, non pas que Paul refuse presents an idea the speaker is distancing themselves from: not that Paul is refusing.

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Why is it refuse after que? Is that the subjunctive?

Yes. After non pas que, French normally uses the subjunctive.

So the expected form is:

• que Paul refuse

For the verb refuser, the present subjunctive form refuse looks exactly the same as the present indicative form refuse. That is why there is no visible spelling difference here.

Compare:

• Indicative: Paul refuse
• Subjunctive: que Paul refuse

They are spelled the same, but the grammar is different.

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Why is there no ne in ?