position of "jamais rien" relative to "dit"

DavidC1Kwiziq community member

position of "jamais rien" relative to "dit"

Hi,

I am not clear about the position of "jamais rien" in these sentences below. Sentence #1 is listed as the correct answer - but it seems that the order of "jamais rien" in the second sentence is similar to examples shown in the lesson. 

SENTENCE #1   Il ne dit jamais rien à personne. 

SENTENCE #2 (my answer)   Il ne jamais rien dit à personne. 

Help, please! Thanks

Asked 3 years ago
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi David,

I cannot find an example where 'jamais rien' is placed before the verb in the lesson as it is incorrect in the present tense.

Il/elle ne fait jamais rien à la maison = He/she never does anything at home

Ils ne disent jamais rien à leurs parents = They never say anything to their parents.

Maybe you are thinking of the perfect tense when 'jamais rien ' will be placed between the auxiliary and the past participle?

Ils n'ont jamais rien dit à leurs parents = They never said anything to their parents

Il/elle n'a jamais rien fait à la maison = He/she never did anything at home

I hope this helps!

 

 

MaartenC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

I don't think this is about the position/order of jamais/rien/à personne - as a single (conjugated) verb in a simple tense, the verb 'dit' needs to be placed between ne and the first negation.

AnishB2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

The sentence 1 translates in English to. "He never says anything to anyone"

Sentence 2 loosely to: "He never anything says to anyone"

As you see sentence 2 doesn't make any correct sense.

position of "jamais rien" relative to "dit"

Hi,

I am not clear about the position of "jamais rien" in these sentences below. Sentence #1 is listed as the correct answer - but it seems that the order of "jamais rien" in the second sentence is similar to examples shown in the lesson. 

SENTENCE #1   Il ne dit jamais rien à personne. 

SENTENCE #2 (my answer)   Il ne jamais rien dit à personne. 

Help, please! Thanks

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