What does ni mean in French?

It is the negative version of et and ou, and it translates as nor. Repeated in front of each item it gives neither… nor: je ne connais ni son nom ni son adresse, I know neither his name nor his address.

Do I still need ne when I use ni?

Yes, whenever there is a conjugated verb. Ni only coordinates; ne is what negates the verb. Je ne bois ni thé ni café is correct, je bois ni thé ni café is not. The exception is after sans, which already contains the negation.

Why is there no article after ni?

Because ni behaves like pas towards quantity words: un, une, des, du, and de la all drop out. So it is ni frère ni sœur, not ni un frère ni une sœur. Definite articles survive, as in je n'aime ni le thé ni le café.

Should the verb be singular or plural after ni… ni?

Both are accepted with two singular subjects. Ni son père ni sa mère ne le sait treats them one at a time; ne le savent treats them as a pair. With toi or moi among the subjects, the verb takes the higher-ranking person: ni toi ni moi ne pouvons.

How do I say me neither in French?

Moi non plus, not ni moi. Tu n'aimes pas ça ? — Moi non plus. Ni only works inside a clause with its own verb, so it cannot stand alone as a reply.

French grammar · Intermediate

Ni in French: How to Say Neither… Nor

Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed May 2026

Ni is the negative form of et and ou: it joins two items inside a negative sentence and gives you neither… nor. It always needs a ne in front of the verb, it pushes out pas, and it strips any indefinite or partitive article off the nouns it introduces.

Je ne bois ni thé ni café.

I drink neither tea nor coffee.

What it is

French cannot use et or ou inside a negation the way English uses and or or. It has a dedicated conjunction, ni, which is repeated in front of each item and works together with the ne on the verb. The result is a sentence that negates both halves at once, without needing pas at all.

Elle n'a ni frère ni sœur. — She has neither a brother nor a sister.

How to spot it

Count the pieces: a ne in front of the verb, a ni in front of each item, and no pas anywhere. If pas is present, one of the ni is out of place.

Il n'est ni grand ni petit. — He's neither tall nor short.
Ni Paul ni Marie ne le savait. — Neither Paul nor Marie knew.
Elle ne mange ni ne dort. — She neither eats nor sleeps.
Il est parti sans manteau ni parapluie. — He left without a coat or an umbrella.

Ni is invariable and takes no accent. The identical-sounding n'y, as in je n'y vais pas, is a different thing entirely.

Negative Conjunctions Quick Reference

The patterns ni appears in

Pattern	Example	Note
ne + verb + ni A ni B	Je ne veux ni vin ni bière.	the standard form; no pas
ni A ni B + ne + verb	Ni lui ni elle ne viendra.	when the items are the subject
ne + ni verb + ni verb	Il ne lit ni n'écrit.	ne is repeated with the second verb
ne pas + A ni B	Je n'ai pas de stylo ni de papier.	acceptable variant with pas
sans A ni B	sans clé ni carte	sans is already negative, so no ne
ni l'un ni l'autre	Ni l'un ni l'autre ne me plaît.	how French says neither as a pronoun
ni… ni + definite article	Je n'aime ni le thé ni le café.	le, la, les are kept

Common Negative Conjunctions Examples in French

Ni across the kinds of things it joins:

Two Nouns

Je n'ai ni voiture ni permis.: I have neither a car nor a licence.
Il n'y a ni sel ni poivre sur la table.: There's neither salt nor pepper on the table.
Elle ne mange ni viande ni poisson.: She eats neither meat nor fish.
Ce plat ne contient ni gluten ni lactose.: This dish contains neither gluten nor lactose.

The article vanishes: it is ni viande ni poisson, never ni de la viande ni du poisson.

Two Adjectives or Adverbs

Le film n'était ni bon ni mauvais.: The film was neither good nor bad.
Elle n'est ni pour ni contre.: She's neither for nor against.
Ce n'est ni cher ni bon marché.: It's neither expensive nor cheap.
Il ne parle ni lentement ni vite.: He speaks neither slowly nor quickly.

With adjectives, ni… ni is the natural way of placing something between two extremes.

Two Subjects

Ni mon frère ni ma sœur ne conduit.: Neither my brother nor my sister drives.
Ni la pluie ni le froid ne l'arrêtent.: Neither the rain nor the cold stops him.
Ni toi ni moi ne pouvons décider seuls.: Neither you nor I can decide alone.

When the subjects include toi or moi, the verb takes the person that outranks: nous for toi et moi.

Two Verbs

Il ne fume ni ne boit.: He neither smokes nor drinks.
Elle n'écoute ni ne répond.: She neither listens nor answers.
Ce mot ne s'écrit ni ne se prononce comme en anglais.: This word is neither written nor pronounced as in English.

With two verbs, ne comes back in front of the second one, giving the ni ne sequence.

How Ni Works

Five rules, and four of them are consequences of the fact that ni negates while it coordinates.

Ni Needs Ne, Not Pas

Ni coordinates but cannot negate the verb, so ne stays in front of it. Pas, on the other hand, would be doing the same job twice, so it disappears. Ne… ni… ni is the complete pattern.

Nous n'avons ni le temps ni l'argent.

We have neither the time nor the money.

ne … ni … ni, and no pas.

It Goes in Front of Each Item

Like soit… soit, ni is repeated rather than split between the two halves. English switches from neither to nor; French says ni twice, and each ni belongs to the item that follows it.

Je ne connais ni son nom ni son adresse.

I know neither his name nor his address.

ni A ni B, never ni A ou B.

The Indefinite Article Drops Out

Un, une, des, du, and de la disappear after ni, exactly as they collapse to de after pas. What remains is a bare noun. Definite articles and possessives, which do not express quantity, are kept.

Il n'a ni chien ni chat, mais il n'aime ni les chiens ni les chats.

He has neither a dog nor a cat, but he likes neither dogs nor cats.

No quantity article after ni.

You Can Coordinate More Than Two Things

Nothing limits the pattern to two items. Each additional element simply gets its own ni, which is how French builds emphatic lists of everything that is absent.

Ni le froid, ni la pluie, ni la neige ne l'ont découragé.

Neither the cold, nor the rain, nor the snow discouraged him.

One ni per item, however many there are.

Agreement Is Flexible with Ni… Ni Subjects

When two singular subjects are joined by ni… ni, both a singular and a plural verb are accepted. The singular suggests the two are considered separately, the plural that they are taken together.

Ni son père ni sa mère ne le sait. Ni son père ni sa mère ne le savent.

Neither his father nor his mother knows.

Singular or plural: both are correct.

Common Mistakes with Negative Conjunctions

Incorrect: Je bois ni thé ni café. — I drink neither tea nor coffee.

Correct: Je ne bois ni thé ni café. — I drink neither tea nor coffee.

Ni coordinates but does not negate the verb. The ne has to be there, even though there is no pas.

Incorrect: Je ne bois pas ni thé ni café. — I drink neither tea nor coffee.

Correct: Je ne bois ni thé ni café. — I drink neither tea nor coffee.

With a full ni… ni pattern, pas is redundant and has to be removed. Pas only survives when a single ni adds an item to something already denied.

Incorrect: Elle n'a ni un frère ni une sœur. — She has neither a brother nor a sister.

Correct: Elle n'a ni frère ni sœur. — She has neither a brother nor a sister.

Indefinite and partitive articles disappear after ni, in the same way they collapse to de after pas. Definite articles, by contrast, are kept: ni les chiens ni les chats.

Incorrect: Je ne mange pas de viande ou de poisson. — I don't eat meat or fish.

Correct: Je ne mange ni viande ni poisson. — I don't eat meat or fish.

English keeps or inside a negation. French cannot: ou has to become ni once the sentence is negative.

Ni in Places You Might Not Expect It

Two constructions use ni with no ne at all, and a handful of set phrases have frozen around it.

After sans and other negative words

Sans already carries the negation, so ni takes over from et or ou without any ne. The same happens after jamais, personne, and rien.

Il est sorti sans clé ni portefeuille.: He went out without his keys or his wallet.
Elle a répondu sans hésiter ni réfléchir.: She answered without hesitating or thinking.
Personne n'a rien vu ni entendu.: Nobody saw or heard anything.

Sans une clé ni un portefeuille would be wrong for the same reason as ni un chien ni un chat: the article goes.

Ni after a first negation

When the sentence already contains ne… pas, a single ni can add a second item to what has been denied. Both forms are correct, and the pas version sounds slightly more conversational.

Je n'ai pas faim, ni soif d'ailleurs.: I'm not hungry, or thirsty for that matter.
Il n'a pas téléphoné ni écrit.: He didn't phone or write.
Elle ne travaille pas le samedi ni le dimanche.: She doesn't work on Saturdays or Sundays.

Here ni means and not either. With a full ni… ni pattern, the pas would have to go.

Frozen pairs

Several expressions have crystallised around ni and are learned as units.

ni plus ni moins: no more, no less
ni vu ni connu: without anyone noticing
ni chair ni poisson: neither one thing nor the other
Ni l'un ni l'autre ne me convient.: Neither of them suits me.

Ni l'un ni l'autre is the standard translation of neither used as a pronoun, and it keeps its ne on the verb.

Negative Conjunctions FAQs

What does ni mean in French?: It is the negative version of et and ou, and it translates as nor. Repeated in front of each item it gives neither… nor: je ne connais ni son nom ni son adresse, I know neither his name nor his address.
Do I still need ne when I use ni?: Yes, whenever there is a conjugated verb. Ni only coordinates; ne is what negates the verb. Je ne bois ni thé ni café is correct, je bois ni thé ni café is not. The exception is after sans, which already contains the negation.
Why is there no article after ni?: Because ni behaves like pas towards quantity words: un, une, des, du, and de la all drop out. So it is ni frère ni sœur, not ni un frère ni une sœur. Definite articles survive, as in je n'aime ni le thé ni le café.
Should the verb be singular or plural after ni… ni?: Both are accepted with two singular subjects. Ni son père ni sa mère ne le sait treats them one at a time; ne le savent treats them as a pair. With toi or moi among the subjects, the verb takes the higher-ranking person: ni toi ni moi ne pouvons.
How do I say me neither in French?: Moi non plus, not ni moi. Tu n'aimes pas ça ? — Moi non plus. Ni only works inside a clause with its own verb, so it cannot stand alone as a reply.