Only and Not Only


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Ne … que vs Seulement

There isn’t only one way to say "only" in French. (See what I did there?) The English adverb "only" is used to restrict the verb, clause, or noun it modifies, and the most common ways to translate this into French are with the adverb of quantity seulement and the negative adverb ne … que. While they both mean "only," these two different kinds of adverbs have different grammar rules, so it’s important to know exactly how to use each of them, depending on what you want to say and how you want to say it.

Seulement

Like "only," seulement is an adverb of quantity, so they are used in very similar ways and follow the same basic rules of grammar.*

Par exemple…

Je dors seulement trois heures.		I only sleep for three hours.
Elle travaille seulement le matin.		She only works in the morning.
Ils font ça seulement pour t’embêter.		They’re only doing that to annoy you.
Nous voulons seulement une voiture.		We want only one car.

* The main difference is that, like most French adverbs, seulement generally follows the verb, while "only" usually precedes it.

However, both seulement and "only" can be positioned in different places to limit different parts of speech.

Par exemple…

Elle veut seulement visiter Paris.		She only wants to visit Paris (not live there).
Elle veut visiter seulement Paris.		She wants to visit only Paris (not Marseilles).

Ne … que

In comparison, ne … que is a negative adverb. It’s used at least as much as seulement, and is more common when speaking. Grammatically ne … que is a little more complicated, as the two parts usually have to surround the verb they modify.

Par exemple…

Je ne dors que trois heures.		I only sleep for three hours.
Elle ne travaille que le matin.		She only works in the morning.
Ils ne font ça que pour t’embêter.		They’re only doing that to annoy you.
Nous ne voulons qu’une voiture.**		We only want one car.

** Note that the indefinite article une does not reduce to de after ne … que – learn more.

Again, changing the placement of que changes the negation.

Par exemple…

Elle ne veut que visiter Paris.		She only wants to visit Paris (not live there).
Elle ne veut visiter que Paris.		She wants to visit only Paris (not Marseilles).

Negation: Not only

Both of the above can be negated to mean "not only."

Ne … que Ne … pas que

Par exemple…

Elle ne travaille pas que le matin.		She doesn’t work only in the morning (she works nights too).
Nous ne voulons pas qu’une voiture.		We don’t only want one car (we want two).

The part in parentheses can be implied or stated.

Seulement Ne … pas seulement

This is synonymous with ne … pas que.

Par exemple…

Elle ne travaille pas seulement le matin.		She doesn’t work only in the morning (she works nights too).
Nous ne voulons pas seulement une voiture.		We don’t want only one car (we want two).

Seulement Non seulement

Alternatively, seulement can be negated with non. This makes the negation more emphatic, and requires a counterpoint introduced by mais.

Par exemple…

Elle travaille non seulement le matin, mais aussi le soir.		She works not only in the morning, but at night too.
Nous voulons non seulement une voiture, mais une maison aussi.		We want not only a car, but a house.
Non seulement il était en retard, mais même il m’a insulté.		He was not only late, (but) he even insulted me.