Breakdown of Nous n’avons aucun sucre; prends du miel.
Questions & Answers about Nous n’avons aucun sucre; prends du miel.
Both are correct, but they differ in emphasis and register.
- Ne … aucun(e) means “not a single, absolutely no.” It’s a bit stronger and a touch more formal: Nous n’avons aucun sucre. (We have absolutely no sugar.)
- Ne … pas de is the neutral, most common way to say “no/any”: Nous n’avons pas de sucre. (We don’t have any sugar.)
Avoid doubling them: in standard French you don’t say Je n’ai pas aucun sucre. If you want extra emphasis, use alternatives like Je n’ai pas le moindre sucre or Je n’ai pas un seul gramme de sucre.
Yes. Aucun is a determiner that agrees in gender (and, in rare cases, number) with the noun:
- Masculine singular: aucun sucre
- Feminine singular: aucune farine, aucune idée
- Rare plural (only with nouns that are normally plural): aucuns frais, aucunes funérailles
Since sucre is masculine, you use aucun sucre.
Because aucun itself is the determiner of the noun; you don’t add de unless the verb or adjective itself requires de.
- Correct here: Nous n’avons aucun sucre. (The verb avoir doesn’t take de.)
- With a verb that needs de: Je ne me souviens d’aucun détail. (Because se souvenir de requires de.)
It’s the imperative (a command) addressed to one person (tu).
- Present tense: tu prends, il prend
- Imperative: prends (2nd person singular), prenons (1st plural), prenez (2nd plural/polite) So the command is Prends du miel. The final -s is normal here; it’s not the 3rd-person form prend.
Use the vous imperative: Prenez du miel.
To make a friendly suggestion including yourself: Prenons du miel.
Before a vowel or silent h, de + le/la becomes de l’:
- de l’eau, de l’ail, de l’argent Here, miel starts with a consonant sound, so it’s du miel. For a feminine mass noun with consonant: de la confiture.
With a standard negation, partitive and indefinite articles usually become de:
- Je n’ai pas de miel. Be careful: pas du miel is used only when you negate a specific/definite reference or a classification (e.g., Ce n’est pas du miel = “This isn’t honey”).
- Prends du miel = “Have some honey” (an unspecified amount; general suggestion).
- Prends le miel = “Take the honey” (the specific honey we both know about, e.g., the jar on the table). “Sugars” in the plural exists in specialized contexts (varieties, sugar cubes), but Prends des miels would be odd; you might hear goûter différents miels (“taste different honeys”) in a gourmet context.
Use en for quantities introduced by de. In the affirmative imperative, attach it with hyphens:
- Prends-en. (Take some.) Note: the -s in prends stays (and is pronounced) before en/y: Prends-en, Prends-y.
Yes. The semicolon links two closely related independent clauses: Nous n’avons aucun sucre; prends du miel.
Alternatives:
- Period: Nous n’avons aucun sucre. Prends du miel.
- Comma with a connector: Nous n’avons aucun sucre, alors/préférablement prends du miel. Typographic note: in French publishing, a (thin, non‑breaking) space is placed before ;, but in everyday typing people often omit it.
- Nous n’avons: typically [nu navɔ̃]; there’s no liaison from nous to avons because ne sits in between. Without ne (in speech), Nous avons is [nuz‿avɔ̃] with liaison.
- aucun: [okœ̃] (nasal vowel at the end).
- sucre: [sykʁ] (roll/uvular r at the end).
- prends: [pʁɑ̃] (final -s silent unless followed by en/y).
- du miel: [dy mjɛl].
In everyday speech, on is more common than nous for “we.” A very natural spoken version would be:
- On n’a pas de sucre; prends du miel.
If you keep aucun: On n’a aucun sucre; prends du miel.