Marie ne boit ni vin ni bière.

Marie drinks neither wine nor beer.

Breakdown of Marie ne boit ni vin ni bière.

• Marie: Marie
• boire: to drink
• le vin: the wine
• la bière: the beer
• ni: nor

Questions & Answers about Marie ne boit ni vin ni bière.

Why does the sentence use ne without pas? I thought French negation was ne … pas.

In French, ne does not always go with pas. It goes with one negative word, and there are several possibilities:

• ne … pas – not
• ne … jamais – never
• ne … plus – no longer
• ne … rien – nothing
• ne … personne – nobody
• ne … ni … ni … – neither … nor …

In Marie ne boit ni vin ni bière, the partner of ne is ni … ni, so you must not add pas:

• ✔ Marie ne boit ni vin ni bière.
• ✘ Marie ne boit pas ni vin ni bière. (incorrect)

So the structure is:

ne + verb + ni + thing 1 + ni + thing 2

---

What exactly does ni … ni … mean and how is it different from ou?

ni … ni … means “neither … nor …” in English.

So:

• Marie ne boit ni vin ni bière.
  = Marie drinks neither wine nor beer.

Compare with ou (or):

• Marie boit du vin ou de la bière.
  = Marie drinks wine or beer. (at least one is possible)

• Marie ne boit pas de vin ou de bière.
  This is ambiguous or odd; it can sound like “She doesn’t drink wine, or she doesn’t drink beer” (not a natural way to say “neither wine nor beer”).

To say neither … nor …, French normally uses ne … ni … ni …, not ne … pas … ou ….

---

Why is there no de / du / de la before vin and bière?

In an affirmative sentence, you would usually have partitive articles:

• Marie boit du vin et de la bière.
  = Marie drinks (some) wine and (some) beer.

With ne … pas, those partitive articles usually become de:

• Marie ne boit pas de vin ni de bière.

With ne … ni … ni …, the normal rule is:

• Indefinite/partitive articles (un, une, du, de la, de l’, des) drop after ni.

So:

• Marie ne boit ni vin ni bière.
  (no de/du/de la)

But definite articles stay:

• Marie ne boit ni le vin rouge ni la bière blonde.
  (both le and la remain because they are definite)

You may also hear ni de vin ni de bière in real life; it’s not shocking, but textbook/standard French prefers the shorter:

• ni vin ni bière

---

Can I say Marie ne boit pas de vin ni de bière instead?

You can hear or read ne … pas … ni … in French, but it is not the clearest or most neutral way to say “neither wine nor beer”.

Typical and safest options:

• Marie ne boit ni vin ni bière. ← best and standard
• Marie ne boit pas de vin ni de bière. ← possible, but less clean stylistically

The structure ne … ni … ni … is the canonical form for neither … nor …. If you are learning, always prefer:

ne + verb + ni + X + ni + Y

---

How would I say “Marie drinks neither wine, beer, nor cider” in French?

You just add another ni for each extra item:

• Marie ne boit ni vin, ni bière, ni cidre.
  or, more compactly:
• Marie ne boit ni vin ni bière ni cidre.

Both are acceptable; commas are optional and mostly a matter of style.

---

Is the word order always ne + verb + ni + noun + ni + noun? Can other words go in there?

The basic pattern is:

Subject + ne + verb + ni + element 1 + ni + element 2 (+ ni + element 3 …)

Those elements can be:

• nouns:
  
  • Elle ne boit ni vin ni bière.
• noun phrases with adjectives:
  
  • Elle ne mange ni viande rouge ni poisson cru.
• verbs:
  
  • Elle ne fume ni ne boit. (= She neither smokes nor drinks.)

So yes, you can have adjectives or complements inside each ni group, but the overall pattern ne + verb + ni + X + ni + Y stays the same.

---

How do you pronounce Marie ne boit ni vin ni bière?

Approximate pronunciation (IPA):

• Marie → /ma.ʁi/
• ne → /nə/ (often reduced, sometimes hardly audible in fast speech)
• boit → /bwa/
• ni → /ni/
• vin → /vɛ̃/ (nasal vowel, like “vɛ” through the nose)
• bière → /bjɛʁ/

Altogether:

Marie ne boit ni vin ni bière → /ma.ʁi nə bwa ni vɛ̃ ni bjɛʁ/

Key points for learners:

• boit sounds like bois (je bois, tu bois, il boit are all /bwa/).
• vin has a nasal vowel; don’t pronounce a clear n at the end.
• bière has a y-like sound /bj/ at the start: b-yair.

---

What are the genders of vin and bière? Does that change anything here?

• vin is masculine: le vin
• bière is feminine: la bière

In this particular sentence, you don’t see the gender, because there are no articles or adjectives:

• ni vin ni bière

But gender matters when you add them:

• Elle ne boit ni le vin rouge ni la bière blonde.
  
  • le vin (masc.) → rouge (masc. form)
  • la bière (fem.) → blonde (fem. form)

So: gender doesn’t change the structure of ne … ni … ni …, but it affects any articles or adjectives you might add.

---

In spoken French, do people still say ne in ne boit ni vin ni bière?

In informal spoken French, many people often drop ne in negation:

• Je (ne) bois pas. → commonly Je bois pas.
• Je (ne) mange jamais. → Je mange jamais.

The same tendency exists with ni:

• Je ne bois ni vin ni bière. → often spoken as
  Je bois ni vin ni bière.

This is very common in casual speech, but considered incorrect or very informal in writing or in careful speech. For exams, writing, or formal contexts, keep the full form:

Marie ne boit ni vin ni bière.

---

How would this sentence look with a different subject or tense, like “I don’t drink wine or beer” or “We didn’t drink wine or beer”?

The ne … ni … ni … part stays the same; only the subject and verb change.

Present tense:

• Je ne bois ni vin ni bière.
  = I don’t drink wine or beer.
• Nous ne buvons ni vin ni bière.
  = We don’t drink wine or beer.

Past (passé composé):

• Je n’ai bu ni vin ni bière.
  = I didn’t drink wine or beer.
• Nous n’avons bu ni vin ni bière.
  = We didn’t drink wine or beer.

Future:

• Je ne boirai ni vin ni bière.
  = I will drink neither wine nor beer.

Pattern to remember:

Subject + ne (n’) + auxiliary/verb + ni + X + ni + Y