Learn Hardcore French: Les pompiers entrent dans le bâtiment sans que personne ne crie. - The firefighters enter the building without anyone screaming.

Sans + noun / pronoun / infinitive
- Les pompiers entrent sans casque. – The firefighters go in without helmets.
- Les pompiers entrent sans crier. – The firefighters go in without screaming (they themselves don’t scream).
Sans que + clause (with a different subject)
- Les pompiers entrent sans que personne ne crie. – The firefighters go in without anyone screaming.

We use sans que because the subject of crie (personne) is not the same as the subject of entrent (les pompiers).
If the firefighters themselves were the ones not screaming, we’d normally say:

Les pompiers entrent dans le bâtiment sans crier.

Why is crie in the subjunctive after sans que?

In French, sans que is one of the conjunctions that normally require the subjunctive, because it introduces something that is presented as unreal, hypothetical, or prevented:

sans que (without [something happening])
avant que (before)
bien que (although)
pour que (so that), etc.

Here, sans que personne ne crie describes something that does not happen: nobody screams. So French grammar requires the subjunctive:

que personne ne crie (subjunctive)
not the indicative que personne ne crie in a neutral context.

For crier, the 3rd person singular present indicative and present subjunctive look the same (crie), but we know it’s subjunctive because it follows sans que.

If crie looks the same in the subjunctive and the present, how can I tell which it is?

You can’t tell from the form alone here; you tell from the construction:

The conjunction sans que always calls for the subjunctive.
So crie after sans que is automatically understood as subjunctive.

You can see the difference in other persons:

Indicative:
- nous crions, vous criez
Subjunctive:
- que nous criions, que vous criiez

So in a sentence like sans que nous criions, you can actually see the subjunctive ending.

Why do we have personne ne crie instead of just personne crie?

In standard French, basic negation is formed with ne + a second negative word:

ne … pas – not
ne … jamais – never
ne … rien – nothing
ne … personne – nobody / no one

So:

Personne ne crie. – Nobody is screaming.

You normally must have the ne with personne in correct written French.
Personne crie is considered wrong in standard French.

Why is there ne but no pas in personne ne crie?

Because pas is only one of several possible negative partners for ne.

French has patterns like:

ne … pas – not
ne … personne – nobody
ne … rien – nothing
ne … jamais – never
ne … plus – no longer

You do not stack them. So:

Personne ne crie. = Nobody screams.
Personne ne crie pas. would literally be “Nobody doesn’t scream” and is ungrammatical or at least very odd.

Can you drop the ne and just say sans que personne crie?

In spoken, informal French, many people do drop ne in most negative forms:

Personne crie. (spoken)
Sans que personne crie. (spoken)

However:

In standard written French, you should keep ne:
sans que personne ne crie.
In formal speech, you also normally keep it.

So learners should always use ne in this kind of sentence when writing or speaking carefully.

Why is personne singular, and why do we say personne ne crie and not personne ne crient?

Personne is grammatically singular, even though it refers to “no people” or “no one” in meaning.

So the verb agrees in the 3rd person singular:

Personne ne crie. – Nobody is screaming.
Personne n’est là. – Nobody is here.

Using a plural verb (personne ne crient) is a common mistake by learners and some native speakers, but it’s not considered correct.

Could we say Les pompiers entrent dans le bâtiment sans crier instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, but the meaning changes.

Les pompiers entrent dans le bâtiment sans crier.
→ The firefighters themselves are not screaming as they enter.
Les pompiers entrent dans le bâtiment sans que personne ne crie.
→ Nobody screams at all (neither the firefighters nor anyone else present).
The focus is on no person screaming, not just on the firefighters’ behavior.

The original sentence highlights the absence of any screaming from anyone, not just the firefighters.

Why do we use dans le bâtiment and not something like au bâtiment?

Entrer usually combines with dans when you mean physically going inside something:

entrer dans le bâtiment – to enter the building (go inside it)
entrer dans la maison / dans la voiture / dans la salle – enter the house / car / room

Au bâtiment would suggest going to the building as a location or institution, not necessarily into it, and even then it’s much less natural in this context. For actual physical entry, entrer dans + lieu fermé (closed space) is the normal pattern.

Why do we need que in sans que personne ne crie?

Because sans que is a conjunction, and it must introduce a clause (a full mini‑sentence with a subject and a verb):

sans que + sujet + verbe (subjonctif)
→ sans que personne ne crie

You cannot say:

✗ sans personne ne crie
✗ sans personne crie (in standard French)

If you don’t want a full clause, you drop que and use a different structure:

sans crier (infinitive)
sans cri (noun)

Is sans que always followed by the subjunctive? What if the subject is the same?

Yes, sans que is normally followed by the subjunctive, regardless of subject:

Sans que je le sache. – Without me knowing it.
Sans que tu dises un mot. – Without you saying a word.

However, if the subject of both actions is the same, French prefers:

sans + infinitive, instead of sans que + subjunctive

So:

More natural: Les pompiers entrent dans le bâtiment sans crier.
(same subject: les pompiers / les pompiers)
With different subject, you must keep sans que + subjunctive:
Les pompiers entrent dans le bâtiment sans que personne ne crie.
(les pompiers vs. personne: two different subjects)

Could we say sans que quelqu’un crie instead of sans que personne ne crie?

You can, but the nuance changes.

sans que personne ne crie clearly means “without anyone screaming / with nobody screaming” – a straightforward negative.
sans que quelqu’un crie is possible, but less natural here.
It tends to suggest “without some (particular) person screaming” or “without someone screaming” and may sound a bit vague or stylistically odd in this context.

In most cases where English says “without anyone …”, French prefers:

sans que personne ne + subjonctif

So the original sans que personne ne crie is the most idiomatic choice.