Colloquial Usage
In colloquial French, it is common to drop the ne in fast speech, although this can create some ambiguity with the ne … plus construction, as plus can mean either "more" or "not anymore." Generally when plus is used to mean "more", the final "s" is pronounced, while it is never pronounced when used to mean "not anymore". Therefore, the informal sentence "Il y en a plus" can be pronounced with the final "s" to mean, "There is more", or without to mean, "There is none left".
In certain, mostly literary constructions, ne can express negation by itself (without pas or another negative word). The four verbs that can use this construction are pouvoir ("to be able to"), savoir ("to know"), oser ("to dare"), cesser ("to cease").
- (standard, ne + pas) « Je n'ai pas pu venir. » — "I was not able to come."
- (casual, pas only) « J'ai pas pu venir. »
- (literary, ne only) « Je n'ai pu venir. » ;
cf. phrase « Je ne sais quoi » — "I do not know what " remaining in colloquial speech as a fossilized phrase
Read more about this topic: French Grammar, Negation
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