Can you use aucun/aucune to shorten these sentences?

Question

Especially, if you are saing "neither". Could you use aucun/aucune with "ne" in front fo the verb: J'ai appelé Paul et Hadrien, mais aucun (or personne) n'a répondu."  (I'm thinking now that aucun is about things not people? So, what about personne?)

Chris Wirt · Accepted Answer

You can say either: "aucun n'a répondu" or "personne n'a répondu". They mean about the same thing with a slight difference in connotation:"aucun" seems to imply a known group of people of which nobody replied. "personne" is simply "nobody". 
Comparing it to English, it seems to me that "aucun" is similar to "none" and "personne" to "nobody".
-- Chris (not a native speaker).

Aurélie Drouard · Answer

Bonjour Helen !
To complete Chris's answer, here is a link to our related lessons:
https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/how-to-say-none-ne-aucun-e-negative-expressions
https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/aucun-e-ne-none-of-them
Bonne journée !

Tom Kelly · Answer

I believe that Aucun in the plural can be used with those nouns that only exist in a plural form and also for those nouns whose meanings differ from singular to plural.
e.g.Aucuns agrès (No equipment), Aucunes arrhes (No deposit);  Aucuns frais (No charges).
 
Also,
D'aucuns (Some (people)) acting as an equivalent of Certains or Quelques-uns is sometimes used:
          D'aucuns croient que la terre est plate.

helen whelan · Answer

Oops. Just found out aucun/e can apply to people....so would the use of aucun or personne be correct?

helen whelan · Answer

Bonjour, Chris and Aurelie--
Thank you both!! Very helpful. Somehow I can remember aucun(e) more easily!