Les expressions négatives

JayaB1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Les expressions négatives

Les expression négatives. 

Nous ne voulons ni crayons ni stylos. 

Nous ne voulons ni de crayons ni de stylos.  

Which of the above is right?  To my knowledge, always partitive articles are omitted. But I saw some sentences with de. 

Asked 2 years ago
AlanC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

I thought the same as Jaya and Maarten, but what the lesson actually says is:

Ne ... ni ... ni = Neither ... nor (French Negations)

"Most of the time with ni with nouns, you omit the article when it comes right after ni, unless you're using a definite article (le, la, l', les)."

I can see from a Google search that there are many examples where the partitive article (or "de") is retained, so it's probably not incorrect. Maybe it adds emphasis? For example: 

"Nous ne voulons ni de l'Europe de Juncker, ni de l'Europe de Salvini et Orban"

"La Catalogne ne veut ni de proclamation d'indépendance unilatérale, ni l'article 155."

 

MaartenC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

The first sentence is correct. Where did you see 'de' used ? Not on this site, I think.

Les expressions négatives

Les expression négatives. 

Nous ne voulons ni crayons ni stylos. 

Nous ne voulons ni de crayons ni de stylos.  

Which of the above is right?  To my knowledge, always partitive articles are omitted. But I saw some sentences with de. 

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