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- Topic: French >
- "Il ne peut que regarder."
11 Comments
This construction: 'Subject+ne .....que' cannot be translated into negative in English.
For example: je n'aime pas que toi = I love no one but you, or I only live you.
Je ne fais rien que admirer les étoiles= I do nothing but admiring the stars= I only admire the stars.
Notice that we are not using 'pas' after 'ne' the negative.
ne........que
I hope that helps.
BashP
598
I think it's helpful to think of the ne .. que construction to mean only or just so Il ne peut que translates to He can only.