Where's the "pas"?

DollyB2Kwiziq community member

Where's the "pas"?

"La jupe est chère? -Non, ici rien n'est cher."

 

Why is it not "Non, ici rien n'est PAS cher"?  

 

I saw in a previous post that you refer us to Ne ... rien = Nothing (French Negations), but this says that you don't need "pas" in situations where you use a different word in place of "pas"...  so you could use "n'est rien" instead of "n'est pas".  But in the text above, "rien" is already in the sentence, so we shouldn't repeat it, right?  So, where is the "PAS"?  Or can any adjective simply replace the "pas"?

Please clarify... et merci beaucoup!

 

 

Asked 1 year ago
MaartenC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

The first link below is referenced in the lesson you have noted and discusses the ‘reversal’ of ‘ne … personne’ to ‘personne ne….’, and of  ‘ne… rien’ to ‘rien ne …’.

The 2nd link covers the topic of using ‘double negations’,  covering the part of your question about ‘pas’ - note particularly the attention box. 

Both links are in the B1 section, so you may not have come across these lessons yet.

Personne ne ..., rien ne ... = No one, nothing (negation) in French 

Combining two or more negations (French Negations)

Where's the "pas"?

"La jupe est chère? -Non, ici rien n'est cher."

 

Why is it not "Non, ici rien n'est PAS cher"?  

 

I saw in a previous post that you refer us to Ne ... rien = Nothing (French Negations), but this says that you don't need "pas" in situations where you use a different word in place of "pas"...  so you could use "n'est rien" instead of "n'est pas".  But in the text above, "rien" is already in the sentence, so we shouldn't repeat it, right?  So, where is the "PAS"?  Or can any adjective simply replace the "pas"?

Please clarify... et merci beaucoup!

 

 

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