Aucun and Aucun De

Aashpreet K.A1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Aucun and Aucun De

Can you please explain why we don't use "de/d' " after ne...aucun/aucune?? What is the reason behind it? Like we use ne...pas assez de.., ne...guère de.., ne...pas de..., beaucoup de, trop de, plus de...

-> Je n'ai pas de pain. // Je n'ai guère de pain. // Je n'ai aucun de pain.

Asked 1 year ago
CélineKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Bonjour Aashpreet,

That's a really good question!

Here, "aucun" acts as an indefinite article (on top of being part of the negation) so it can be followed by a noun compared to "beaucoup / trop / assez / guère" (which are adverbs and can only be followed by a noun with the help of the preposition "de") or :

Il n'a aucune voiture = He doesn't have any cars

Il n'a pas beaucoup de voitures = He doesn't have a lot of cars

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Many times the question "why" has not answer when studying a language. That's just the way it is.

But to give you a hint: the other negation particles like pas and guère do not match the noun in number and gender. Aucun/e/es works like an adjective as well as a negation particle.

Aashpreet K.A1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Thank you for the great explanations Céline and Chris!

Aucun and Aucun De

Can you please explain why we don't use "de/d' " after ne...aucun/aucune?? What is the reason behind it? Like we use ne...pas assez de.., ne...guère de.., ne...pas de..., beaucoup de, trop de, plus de...

-> Je n'ai pas de pain. // Je n'ai guère de pain. // Je n'ai aucun de pain.

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