Ne… plus in French: how to say no longer or not anymore

Ne… plus means “no longer” or “not anymore”. It uses the same frame as ne... pas: put ne before the verb and plus after it. Je fume (“I smoke”) becomes Je ne fume plus (“I don’t smoke anymore”). Before a vowel, ne becomes n'.

The word order is the same as ne… pas

In a simple tense, ne goes before the conjugated verb and plus goes after it.

Il ne vient plus le lundi.
He doesn’t come on Mondays anymore.

In the passé composé, wrap the helper verb:

Je n’ai plus regardé cette série.
I stopped watching that series.

The structure is: subject + ne + helper + plus + participle.

With nouns: plus de

When you mean “no more of something”, use plus de before the noun.

Il n’y a plus de café.
There is no coffee left.

Je n’ai plus d’argent.
I don’t have any money left.

This is close to the de change after ne... pas: the negative expression collapses the article to de or d'.

Pronunciation: plus often loses the final s

In ne... plus, the final s of plus is usually silent: je ne veux plus sounds like “zhe ne veu plu”. In careful speech you keep the full ne; in casual speech you may hear only je veux plus, with plus carrying the negative idea.

Common mistakes

Translating no more as pas plus

Pas plus usually means “not more”, not “no longer”.

Je ne travaille pas plus ici. → Je ne travaille plus ici.
I don’t work here anymore.

Forgetting de before a noun

Use plus de when a noun follows.

Je n’ai plus des questions. → Je n’ai plus de questions.
I don’t have any more questions.

Putting plus after the participle

In the passé composé, plus goes after the helper.

Je n’ai parlé plus. → Je n’ai plus parlé.
I didn’t speak anymore.

Ne... plus is one member of the negative family that starts with ne… pas and continues with ne… rien. Fluera practices them as swaps in the same frame, so you feel when the sentence means “not”, “no longer”, or “nothing”. Try it when you practice French.

Practice