Function of “ne”

Brian E.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

With reference to “Ma nièce de 13 ans, elle, ne jure que par Soprano”. I see that “jurer que” means “swears”, giving us “My 13-year-old niece swears by Soprano”, but what is the “ne” doing there? I don’t think it’s the “ne explétif”, and I also don’t think it’s meant to create a “ne … que” ( = only) structure. But how & why is it there?

This question relates to:French dictation exercise "Music between generations"

Dictation exercise B2

Asked 1 year ago

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CécileKwiziq Native French TeacherCorrect answer

Hi Brian,

Please take a look at the following lesson about the negative ne ... que which translates as 'only' -

Using restrictive ne … que to express only with simple tenses (French Negations)

Hope it helps!

Like11 year ago

Brian E. asked:

Function of “ne”

With reference to “Ma nièce de 13 ans, elle, ne jure que par Soprano”. I see that “jurer que” means “swears”, giving us “My 13-year-old niece swears by Soprano”, but what is the “ne” doing there? I don’t think it’s the “ne explétif”, and I also don’t think it’s meant to create a “ne … que” ( = only) structure. But how & why is it there?

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