Would or would not?

Question

In the short quiz, the sentence was  'Nous craignons qu'il  ne change d'avis". The correct answer given was : 'We fear that he would change his mind'. Because of the 'ne', should the answer be " We fear that he would NOT change his mind?  I also want to know whether 'change d'avis' is an expression?     Thanks.

Chris Wirt · Accepted Answer

The "ne" in that sentence is purely stylistic and does not mean a negation. It is called "ne-explétif" and there are lessons on that topic on kwiziq at a higher level.
The expression is changer d'avis -- to change one's mind. Change is the subjunctive present of the verb changer.

Jean Walters · Answer

Bonjour Andrea, The clue that you are seeing the ne-expletif as Chris mentioned is that the "pas" is absent. For it to be a negative statement, there would have been a ne ... pas.