French Language > Negative

Ne…que and What You Can Do With It

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A. Ne…que Versus Seulement

The ne…que construction is the usual way to say “only” in French, although seulement also exists. These two sentences mean the same:

• J’ai seulement un fils. (I have only one son.)
• Je n’ai qu’un fils. ¹ (I have only one son.)

Even when either of these constructions could be used, however, the preference goes to ne…que.

• Je n’ai que mes amis. (I have only my friends.)
• Je n’ai que quelques amis. (I have only a few friends.)
• Je n’ai pas d’amis français; je n’ai que des amis suédois. (I don’t have any French friends; I have only Swedish friends.)

B. Ne…que and the Partitive

1. After the que

The negative, with pas plus jamais or guère, has the effect of reducing the partitive or indefinite article to a simple de. (See Reduction of the Partitive Article.) However, since in the ne…que construction the que excludes from the negation everything following it, this reduction does not occur:

• J’ai de l’espoir. (I have [some] hope.)
  → Je n’ai pas d’espoir. (I have no hope = I don’t have any hope.)
  → Je n’ai que de l’espoir. (I have only hope = I have nothing but hope = All I have is hope.)
• Il y a des anguilles sous cette roche. (There are eels under this rock.)
  → Il n’y a pas d’anguilles sous cette roche. (There are no eels under this rock.)
  → Il n’y a que des anguilles sous cette roche. (There is nothing but eels under this rock = There are only eels under this rock.)

2. Before the que

If a partitive expression nevertheless gets on the left side of the que, the reduction rule applies (even though there is no pas).

• Je n’ai d’espoir qu’en Dieu. (I have hope only in God = I have no hope but in God = My only hope is in God.)
• Je n’ai d’ami(s) que vous. (I have no friend[s] but you = You are my only friend.)

You may occasionally see something this fancy:

• Je n’ai de billes que vertes. (I have no marbles save green ones.) ²

C. If Translating From French Into English

If you are translating from French to English, I recommend your putting the “only” in the English sentence where the que was in the French sentence. Often it won’t make a difference to the meaning, ³ but sometimes it will, hugely. Study the following:

• Je n’ai trouvé la solution que dans ce livre. (I found the solution only in this book.)
• Je n’ai trouvé que la solution dans ce livre. (I found only [= nothing but] the solution in this book = All I found in this book was the solution.)

and

• Elle ne vient ici que le lundi. (She comes here only on Mondays.)
• Elle ne vient qu’ici le lundi. (She comes only here [nowhere else] on Mondays = She comes nowhere but here on Mondays.)

D. Ne…que Combined With Other Negative Particles

Study the following examples:

• Je n’ai plus d’espoir qu’en Dieu. (I have no hope any more save in God = I have no more hope save in God.)
• Je n’ai plus au fond de mon âme que de l’amertume. (I have nothing anymore in the depths of my soul but bitterness.)
• Il ne parle jamais que de lui-même. (He never speaks about anything except himself = He never speaks save about himself = The only thing he talks about is himself.)
• Il ne prononce jamais que des banalités. (He never utters anything but banalities.)
• Il ne prononce guère que des banalités. (He scarcely utters anything but banalities.)
• Il ne prononce guère jamais que des banalités. (He scarcely ever utters anything but banalities.)
• Il n’a jamais plus parlé que de cette expérience bouleversante. (After that, he never spoke about anything anymore except that overwhelming experience.)
• Avant le concile, la liturgie n’était plus guère qu’un cadavre embaumé. Après le concile, elle n’est plus guère qu’un cadavre décomposé. (Before the [Second Vatican] Council, the liturgy was scarcely [anything] any more than an embalmed corpse. After the Council, the liturgy is scarcely anything any more than a decomposed corpse.) –Louis Bouyer (1971)

F. When the Verb Itself Is Excluded From the Negation

How to do such a thing, since the que has to come after the verb and so couldn’t possibly (ne saurait) be used on the verb? Answer: the serviceable verb faire, which functions here as a kind of auxiliary.

• Il ne travaille pas; il ne fait que dormir toute la journée. (He doesn’t work; he just sleeps all day long.)
• Il ne fait que nous casser les pieds. (All he does is give us a head-ache.)
• Je ne propose pas; je ne fais qu’observer. (I don’t propose; I only observe.)
• Il ne fait que commencer. (He’s just beginning.)
• (Fancy!) Il n’a que commencé. (He’s only begun.)

G. Using Ne…pas que To Mean “not only”

Somebody decided one day that if Elle n’a pas d’idées means “She has no ideas” and Elle n’a que des idées means “She only has ideas = nothing but ideas” and is the equivalent of Elle a seulement des idées, then Elle n’a pas que des idées should mean “She doesn’t have only ideas.”

Elle a des idées. (She has ideas.)
→ Elle n’a pas d’idées. (She doesn’t have any ideas.)
→ Elle n’a que des idées. (She has only ideas = She has nothing but ideas.)
→ Elle n’a pas que des idées. (She doesn’t have just ideas = She has more than just ideas.)

1. You will recall Don Diegue’s hopeful words in Le Cid 1.2: Vous n’avez qu’une fille, et moi je n’ai qu’un fils.[↩]
2. More likely however is Je n’ai que des billes vertes (I have only green marbles).[↩]
3. English likes to put adverbs in front of the verb; French rarely does this. So, we might say: “I only eat vegetables,” but the French prefers Je ne mange que des légumes. I am recommending that in translating you say: “I eat only vegetables.”[↩]

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