Identifying the subjects

Question

The lesson doesn't say if it's okay to replace the pronouns un & autre with subject nouns. E.g  for: 'Neither Julien nor Sophie can come.' can you say 1) 'Ni Julien ni Sophie ne peuvent venir.' ? or do you have to say 2)'Julien et Sophie ne peuvent venir, ni l'un ni l'autre'  or how about 3) 'Ils ne peuvent venir, ni Julien ni Sophie.' ? Or are all three okay?

Chris Wirt · Accepted Answer

Ni Julien ni Sophie ne peuvent venir. -- Neither Julien nor Sophie can come.
This is the most common way to say this. The other two versions you post sound like the ni..ni was added by the speaker as an afterthought. That can happen in spoken French, of course, but would be odd seeing it in writing.

Mike Procter · Answer

Thanks Chris. Much appreciated. I think I forgot an earlier lesson.

By copy of this, let me suggest to our tutors that a link from this page to the one below might be useful: Ne ... ni ... ni = Neither ... nor (French Negations)