rien

/ʁjɛ̃/

nothing

Je n'ai rien mangé aujourd'hui.

I haven't eaten anything today.

general

Nothing; not anything

Il n'y a rien ici.

There is nothing here.

Je ne veux rien.

I don't want anything.

Used to negate the existence or presence of something.

informal

Used to emphasize the absence of something

C'est rien !

It's nothing!

Je fais rien de spécial.

I'm not doing anything special.

Often used in colloquial speech to downplay something.

Collocations

ne rien faireto do nothingrien denothingrien à voirnothing to do with

it's nothing

nothing to do

'Rien' is always used with 'ne' in formal contexts, but 'ne' is often omitted in spoken French.

'Rien' typically comes after the verb in negative sentences.

From Old French 'rien', from Latin 'rem' (thing) with the negative prefix 'ne'.

In negative sentences, 'rien' often follows the verb and is preceded by 'ne'. In informal speech, 'ne' is often dropped.

rien

nothing

root

Dictionnaire Français-Anglais