Frequently I encounter French people who use "que" on its own.

DavidC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Frequently I encounter French people who use "que" on its own.

Asked 5 years ago
ChrisC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Do you mean something like this:

Que tu passes des merveilleuses vacances. -- Have a great vacation!

Literally: that you may pass great holidays. 

Here you can pretend that the first part of the main clause was omitted. It may be something like: Je te souhaite, ...

-- Chris. 

DavidC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
No I meant that I often encounter the use of que without the preceding ne to mean only
CécileKwiziq team member

Hi David,

 In spoken French the 'ne' will often be omitted, so you might hear:

Tu amènes que lui = you only bring him

J'ai que des soucis en ce moment = I only have problems/worries at the moment

Is this what you meant?

DavidC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Indeed
MaxC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
I hear that a lot too, especially among French millenials, who also frequently omit the subject pronoun. One hears "vendent que des fleurs" meaning "they sell flowers only". It seems there is a tendency to italianize or hispanize French by omitting subject pronouns where the context is clear. Oy veh!

Frequently I encounter French people who use "que" on its own.

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