Common negative forms: ne... plus, ne... jamais, ne... rien, ne... personne

Je ne mange plus de viande.I no longer eat meat.

You already know ne... pas for a plain "not". French has a small family of other negatives that use the exact same frame — ne before the verb — but swap pas for a different word to change the meaning.

Quick shortcut: same frame as ne... pas, different second word. ne... plus (no longer), ne... jamais (never), ne... rien (nothing), ne... personne (nobody).

The four forms

Just like ne... pas, ne elides to n' before a vowel or mute h: *Je **n'*habite plus à Lyon.   *Elle **n'*aime rien.

Word order in the present tense

The pattern is identical to ne... pas: subject + ne + verb + the second word.

• Tu ne fumes plus ?
• Nous ne sortons jamais le lundi.
• Elle ne dit rien.
• Je ne vois personne.

Word order in the passé composé

With a compound tense like the passé composé, plus, jamais and rien behave exactly like pas: they slot in between the auxiliary and the past participle.

• Je n'ai plus fumé depuis un an.
• Il n'a jamais menti.
• Nous n'avons rien compris.

personne is the exception: it goes after the past participle, not before it:

• ✅ Je n'ai vu personne, not ❌ Je n'ai personne vu.
• ✅ Elle n'a rencontré personne à la fête.

rien and personne as the subject

Rien and personne can also be the subject of the sentence. ne still appears, right before the verb, but there's nothing after the verb — the frame isn't wrapped around anything:

• Personne ne vient. (Nobody is coming.)
• Rien ne marche aujourd'hui. (Nothing is working today.)
• ***Personne n'*a téléphoné. (Nobody called.)

Combining negatives

Two of these words can combine, most commonly ne... plus jamais (never again):

• Je ne vais plus jamais manger ça ! (I'm never eating that again!)

After an infinitive

Before an infinitive, the whole negative usually stays together, right in front of it — again, except personne:

• Il préfère ne plus fumer. (He prefers not to smoke anymore.)
• Elle a décidé de ne rien dire. (She decided to say nothing.)
• J'essaie de ne voir personne aujourd'hui. (personne goes after the infinitive)

A reminder about de

Just like with ne... pas, an indefinite or partitive article after these negatives usually becomes de: *Je **n'*ai plus de pain. (See ne... pas for the full rule.)

Common mistakes

• To mean "I no longer smoke", use Je ne fume plus. Je ne fume pas plus is a real sentence too, but means something different: "I don't smoke more (than that)" — don't confuse the two.
• ❌ Je n'ai personne vu. → ✅ Je n'ai vu personne. (personne goes after the participle, unlike jamais/plus/rien)
• ❌ Rien ne pas marche. → ✅ Rien ne marche. (as a subject, rien/personne need only ne, no pas)
• ❌ Je bois jamais de café. → ✅ Je ne bois jamais de café. (ne can't be dropped in standard writing, same rule as ne... pas)

Quick check

Rewrite each sentence with the negative shown.

1. (ne... plus) J'habite à Paris.
2. (ne... jamais) Elle mange de la viande.
3. (ne... rien) Tu comprends.
4. (ne... personne, passé composé) J'ai vu quelqu'un.
5. (rien as subject) Quelque chose se passe.

Key takeaways

• ne... plus (no longer), ne... jamais (never), ne... rien (nothing), ne... personne (nobody) all use the same frame as ne... pas, with ne before the verb.
• In the passé composé, plus/jamais/rien sit between the auxiliary and the participle; personne is the exception and goes after the participle.
• As a subject, rien/personne + ne + verb needs no second negative word after the verb.
• Before an infinitive, the negative stays together right before it — except personne, which follows the infinitive.
• An indefinite or partitive article after these negatives usually becomes de, same as after ne... pas.