Log inSign up

Il ne veut pas parler de sa peine.

Il ne veut pas parler de sa peine.
He does not want to talk about his sadness.
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching French grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning French now

Questions & Answers about Il ne veut pas parler de sa peine.

Why do we use both ne and pas to make the sentence negative, and where do they go?

Standard French negation is built with two parts: ne … pas around the conjugated verb.

  • ne goes before the conjugated verb: ne veut
  • pas goes right after the conjugated verb: veut pas

So: Il ne veut pas parler… = He does not want to talk…

With compound tenses, ne and pas go around the auxiliary:

  • Il n’a pas parlé. – He did not speak.
In spoken French, can I drop ne and just say Il veut pas parler de sa peine?

Yes, that is very common in informal spoken French. People often say:

  • Il veut pas parler de sa peine.

However:

  • In writing, in formal situations, and in exams, you should keep ne: Il ne veut pas parler de sa peine.
  • Dropping ne is considered colloquial; it’s fine in everyday conversation, but not in careful written French.
Why is it veut here and not veux or vouloir?

Because veut is the 3rd person singular (il/elle/on) form of the verb vouloir in the present tense.

Present tense of vouloir:

  • je veux
  • tu veux
  • il / elle / on veut
  • nous voulons
  • vous voulez
  • ils / elles veulent

So with il, you must say il veut. Using veux or vouloir here would be a conjugation error.

Why is parler in the infinitive form?

Parler is in the infinitive because it comes after vouloir.
In French, verbs like vouloir, pouvoir, devoir, savoir are followed directly by the infinitive:

  • Il veut parler. – He wants to talk.
  • Il peut parler. – He can talk.
  • Il doit parler. – He must talk.

You only conjugate vouloir; the verb that follows stays in the infinitive: veut parler.

Why do we need the preposition de before sa peine?

Because in French, parler when it means to talk about is used as parler de + something.

  • parler de quelque chose – to talk about something
  • parler de sa peine – to talk about his pain/sorrow
  • parler de ses problèmes – to talk about his/her problems

Compare:

  • parler à quelqu’un – to speak to someone
  • parler de quelque chose – to speak about something

So de is required here; you cannot say parler sa peine.

Why is it sa peine even though il is masculine? Shouldn’t it be son peine?

In French, possessive adjectives (son, sa, ses) agree with the gender and number of the noun possessed, not with the person who owns it.

  • peine is a feminine singular noun.
  • Therefore, you must use sa (feminine singular): sa peine.

Overview:

  • son = his/her masculine singular thing (or feminine beginning with a vowel sound)
  • sa = his/her feminine singular thing
  • ses = his/her plural things

So a man and a woman would both say:

  • sa peine – his/her sorrow (because peine is feminine)
What exactly does peine mean here, and how is it different from English pain or sorrow?

Peine is a very flexible word; here it means something like emotional suffering, grief, sadness, heartache.

Common meanings of peine:

  • emotional pain / sorrow / grief:
    • Il souffre, il a beaucoup de peine. – He is suffering; he’s very sad.
  • effort / trouble:
    • Merci de t’être donné la peine. – Thanks for making the effort.
  • punishment, sentence (legal):
    • Il a reçu une peine de prison. – He got a prison sentence.

For physical pain, French more often uses douleur:

  • Il a mal / Il a une douleur au dos. – He has back pain.

So in Il ne veut pas parler de sa peine, it’s about inner/emotional suffering.

Could I say Il ne veut pas parler de la peine instead of de sa peine?

Grammatically, Il ne veut pas parler de la peine is correct, but it means something slightly different.

  • de sa peine = about his own sorrow/pain (personal, specific)
  • de la peine = about the sorrow / the pain in general, or some specific sorrow already known from context, but not clearly linked as his.

In a context where you mean his personal emotional pain, de sa peine is the natural choice.

Why isn’t it Il ne veut pas de parler de sa peine?

Because vouloir is followed directly by the infinitive, without de:

  • Il veut parler. – He wants to talk.
  • Il ne veut pas parler. – He doesn’t want to talk.

Some verbs require de + infinitive (e.g. essayer de, décider de, refuser de):

  • Il essaie de parler. – He is trying to talk.
  • Il refuse de parler. – He refuses to talk.

But vouloir does not take de before an infinitive, so Il ne veut pas de parler is incorrect.

Can I change the word order and say Il ne veut parler pas de sa peine?

No. In standard French word order, ne … pas must go around the conjugated verb:

  • Correct: Il ne veut pas parler de sa peine.
  • Incorrect: Il ne veut parler pas de sa peine.

You cannot insert pas between veut and its infinitive parler like that. The whole infinitive phrase parler de sa peine comes after ne veut pas.

How would I replace de sa peine with a pronoun?

You would use the pronoun en, which replaces de + noun (when it refers to a thing, idea, or amount).

  • Il ne veut pas parler de sa peine.
  • Il ne veut pas en parler. – He doesn’t want to talk about it.

Note the placement:

  • In the negative, en goes between ne and the conjugated verb:
    • Il n’en veut pas parler. – He doesn’t want to talk about it.
      Both Il ne veut pas en parler and Il n’en veut pas parler are acceptable; the second slightly emphasizes “not wanting it”. The first is more common for learners.
How would I say “He didn’t want to talk about his pain” or “He won’t want to talk about his pain”?

Past:

  • Il ne voulait pas parler de sa peine. – He didn’t want to talk about his pain / He didn’t use to want to… (background, ongoing attitude).
  • Il n’a pas voulu parler de sa peine. – He refused / he wouldn’t talk about his pain (more punctual, one specific occasion).

Future:

  • Il ne voudra pas parler de sa peine. – He will not want to talk about his pain.
  • More conversational future: Il ne va pas vouloir parler de sa peine. – He’s not going to want to talk about his pain.

In all cases, the negation stays around the conjugated form of vouloir.