"ne" meaning in French

See ne in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Particle

IPA: /nə/ Audio: Fr-ne.ogg
Rhymes: -ə Etymology: From Middle French, from Old French nen or ne preceding words starting in a consonant, from Latin nōn. Etymology templates: {{cog|frm|-}} Middle French, {{inh|fr|fro|nen}} Old French nen, {{m|fro|ne}} ne, {{inh|fr|la|non|nōn}} Latin nōn Head templates: {{head|fr|particles}} ne
  1. (literary) not (used alone to negate a verb; now chiefly with only a few particular verbs: see usage notes) Tags: literary
    Sense id: en-ne-fr-particle-RyGeT-e0 Categories (other): French particles Disambiguation of French particles: 10 10 42 37
  2. not, no (used before a verb, with a coordinating negative element usually following; see Usage Notes, below)
    Sense id: en-ne-fr-particle-GM~tg8Yk
  3. Used in a subordinate clause before a subjunctive verb (especially when the main verb expresses doubt or fear), to provide extra overtones of doubt or uncertainty (but not negating its verb); the so-called "pleonastic" or "expletive" ne.
    Sense id: en-ne-fr-particle-y4l34IoE Categories (other): French entries with incorrect language header, French particles Disambiguation of French entries with incorrect language header: 7 8 44 42 Disambiguation of French particles: 10 10 42 37
  4. In comparative clauses usually translated with the positive sense of the subsequent negative
    Sense id: en-ne-fr-particle-0YfcddxU Categories (other): French entries with incorrect language header, French particles Disambiguation of French entries with incorrect language header: 7 8 44 42 Disambiguation of French particles: 10 10 42 37
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: guère, jamais, pas, personne, plus, point, que, rien

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for ne meaning in French (5.6kB)

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      "expansion": "Middle French",
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  "lang_code": "fr",
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      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
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    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
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    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
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      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
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          "english": "I don't know if I should call you Mr or Miss.",
          "ref": "1713, Voltaire, letter, Dec 1713",
          "text": "Je ne sais si je dois vous appeler Monsieur ou Mademoiselle […].",
          "type": "quotation"
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          "english": "The prince of France loves us, that of Spain never stops helping us.",
          "ref": "1826, Victor Hugo, Bug-Jargal, section XXXVIII",
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          "type": "quotation"
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          "english": "I dare not swear that I still love you, for I sense that you would not believe me.",
          "ref": "1868, Emile Zola, Madeleine Férat",
          "text": "Je n’ose te jurer que je t’aime toujours, parce que je sens bien que tu ne me croirais pas.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "english": "But I don't think so: a man who finds it natural to denounce men cannot have our idea of being human.",
          "ref": "1943, Jean-Paul Sartre, Réflexions sur la question juive",
          "text": "Mais je ne le crois pas : un homme qui trouve naturel de dénoncer des hommes ne peut avoir notre conception de l’humain […].",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "english": "Love goes away, and yours will not be able to last.",
          "ref": "1963, Françoise Hardy, L'Amour s'en va",
          "text": "L’amour s’en va, et le tien ne saurait durer.",
          "type": "quotation"
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          "english": "I don't know anything more odious than hypocrisy.",
          "ref": "1851, Henri Murger, Le pays latin",
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          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "english": "Bruno realised that he'd never be accepted by the hippies.",
          "ref": "1998, Michel Houellebecq, Les Particules Élémentaires",
          "text": "Bruno se rendit compte qu’il ne serait jamais accepté par les hippies […].",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 May 3, Le Monde",
          "roman": "\"There wasn't anything we weren't expecting,\" stated Stéphane Le Foll.",
          "text": "\"Il n’y a pas eu un truc auquel on ne s’attendait pas\", affirme Stéphane Le Foll.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        "not, no (used before a verb, with a coordinating negative element usually following; see Usage Notes, below)"
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          "ref": "1829, Victor Hugo, Le Derner Jour d'un Condamné, section XXVII",
          "text": "Ah! mes cheveux blanchiront avant que ma tête ne tombe!",
          "type": "quotation"
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          "english": "\"Yes, but I think she might be more ill than she's letting on,\" the priest replied.",
          "ref": "1837, George Sand, Mauprat",
          "text": "Oui, mais je crains qu’elle ne soit plus malade qu’elle ne l’avoue, repartit l’abbé.",
          "type": "quotation"
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      "glosses": [
        "Used in a subordinate clause before a subjunctive verb (especially when the main verb expresses doubt or fear), to provide extra overtones of doubt or uncertainty (but not negating its verb); the so-called \"pleonastic\" or \"expletive\" ne."
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          "english": "Learning French is easier than you (might) think.",
          "text": "Apprendre le français est plus facile qu’on ne pense.",
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        "In comparative clauses usually translated with the positive sense of the subsequent negative"
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      "rhymes": "-ə"
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      "audio": "Fr-ne.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/69/Fr-ne.ogg/Fr-ne.ogg.mp3",
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      "word": "jamais"
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      "word": "plus"
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      "word": "point"
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        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
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        {
          "english": "I don't know if I should call you Mr or Miss.",
          "ref": "1713, Voltaire, letter, Dec 1713",
          "text": "Je ne sais si je dois vous appeler Monsieur ou Mademoiselle […].",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "english": "The prince of France loves us, that of Spain never stops helping us.",
          "ref": "1826, Victor Hugo, Bug-Jargal, section XXXVIII",
          "text": "Le prince de France nous aime, celui d’Espagne ne cesse de nous secourir.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "english": "I dare not swear that I still love you, for I sense that you would not believe me.",
          "ref": "1868, Emile Zola, Madeleine Férat",
          "text": "Je n’ose te jurer que je t’aime toujours, parce que je sens bien que tu ne me croirais pas.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "english": "But I don't think so: a man who finds it natural to denounce men cannot have our idea of being human.",
          "ref": "1943, Jean-Paul Sartre, Réflexions sur la question juive",
          "text": "Mais je ne le crois pas : un homme qui trouve naturel de dénoncer des hommes ne peut avoir notre conception de l’humain […].",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "english": "Love goes away, and yours will not be able to last.",
          "ref": "1963, Françoise Hardy, L'Amour s'en va",
          "text": "L’amour s’en va, et le tien ne saurait durer.",
          "type": "quotation"
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          "english": "I don't know anything more odious than hypocrisy.",
          "ref": "1851, Henri Murger, Le pays latin",
          "text": "Je ne sais rien de plus odieux que l’hypocrisie.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "english": "Bruno realised that he'd never be accepted by the hippies.",
          "ref": "1998, Michel Houellebecq, Les Particules Élémentaires",
          "text": "Bruno se rendit compte qu’il ne serait jamais accepté par les hippies […].",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 May 3, Le Monde",
          "roman": "\"There wasn't anything we weren't expecting,\" stated Stéphane Le Foll.",
          "text": "\"Il n’y a pas eu un truc auquel on ne s’attendait pas\", affirme Stéphane Le Foll.",
          "type": "quotation"
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      ],
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        "not, no (used before a verb, with a coordinating negative element usually following; see Usage Notes, below)"
      ],
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          "english": "Oh! My hair will go white before my head falls!",
          "ref": "1829, Victor Hugo, Le Derner Jour d'un Condamné, section XXVII",
          "text": "Ah! mes cheveux blanchiront avant que ma tête ne tombe!",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "english": "\"Yes, but I think she might be more ill than she's letting on,\" the priest replied.",
          "ref": "1837, George Sand, Mauprat",
          "text": "Oui, mais je crains qu’elle ne soit plus malade qu’elle ne l’avoue, repartit l’abbé.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used in a subordinate clause before a subjunctive verb (especially when the main verb expresses doubt or fear), to provide extra overtones of doubt or uncertainty (but not negating its verb); the so-called \"pleonastic\" or \"expletive\" ne."
      ]
    },
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      "examples": [
        {
          "english": "Learning French is easier than you (might) think.",
          "text": "Apprendre le français est plus facile qu’on ne pense.",
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      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In comparative clauses usually translated with the positive sense of the subsequent negative"
      ]
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable French dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.