En rien

Libre Forum en français (Open Forum in French)
1

Steve wrote in one of his comments on youtube “son absence n’empeche en rien la communication”

Is this a particular pattern?

Putting in google I see:

ne préjudicie en rien au paiement‎
n’affecte en rien
ne signifie en rien
Cela ne relève en rien du mystère‎

What does the “en” mean? You could say the sentences without “en”?

2

G’day Milan.

Without much context, I’d say the “en rien” means “not at all” or “in no way”. If you remove the “en”, it will change the meaning of the sentence(s)…

3

Hi Peter.

How does it change the meaning?

son absence n’empeche en rien la communication

  1. Its absence doesn’t prevent at all communication
  2. Its absence doesn’t prevent communication

Seems to mean the same to me.

Thanks

4

I think the second one would be incorrect, though let’s see what a native has to say.

“son absence n’empeche rien la communcation”. → to me this sounds incorrect.

“son absence n’empeche rien” → its absence doesn’t prevent anything.

“son absence n’empeche en rien…” → its absence doesn’t in any way prevent…

"son absence n’empeche pas du tout… " → its absence doesn’t prevent … at all

5

Peter’s explanations are perfect. :wink:

“Its absence doesn’t prevent at all communication” => … n’empêche pas du tout la communication

"Its absence doesn’t prevent communication " => … n’empêche pas la communication

You can replace “en rien” by “en aucun cas” or “aucunement”.

6

Don’t try to translate verbatim. In French it doesn’t make sense if you use the expression “en rien” without the “en”