Get the app
French frequency list

No. 127 in French

rien

"Rien" means "nothing" in English.

In a sentence

  • Je ne vois rien.

    I see nothing.

    In this sentence, 'rien' is used with a negative construction to mean 'nothing', portraying an absence of anything visible.

  • Rien n'est impossible.

    Nothing is impossible.

    In this case, 'rien' acts as the subject of the sentence, emphasizing that no obstacle is insurmountable.

  • Elle ne parle de rien.

    She talks about nothing.

    Here, 'rien' complements the verb phrase by indicating that the subject has spoken about no particular topic.

Hear it in real podcasts

The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “rien” in actual French podcasts.

Find “rien” in podcasts

Learn it from shows you like

LangTurbo plays French podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there.

Get the app

French books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).