Avez-vous déjà remarqué que la double négation de la langue française disparaît lentement?/ Have you ever noticed that the double negation of the French language slowly disappears?

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The use of double negations in Germanic languages is wrong, although they are used in regional dialects, like ‘you ain’t seen nothing yet’ or ‘Why don’t nobody never loosen up and themselves go’ (sentence from ‘The Butler’ by Roald Dahl). Yet, they are used in Romance languages, like Italian, Spanish and also French. So the double negation disappears slowly:

  1. Je n’ai pas faim/ J’ai pas faim.
  2. Je ne suis pas d’accord/ Je suis pas d’accord.
  3. Je n’ai jamais vu rien de pareil./ J’ai jamais vu rien de pareil!
  4. Je n’ai aucune idée/ J’ai aucune idée.
  5. Quand on n’a que l’amour/Quand on a que l’amour.

(1) I’m not hungry.
(2) I don’t agree
(3) I’ve never seen something like that.
(4) I have no idea.
(5) When you only have love.

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