nada

nothing, zilch

adverb nah-DAH Rare

Origin: Borrowed from Spanish 'nada' (nothing).

Usage Note

Nada is an informal borrowing from Spanish used in colloquial French for emphasis — stronger or more colorful than rien. It is often paired with que dalle or used alone for comic effect. It appears mainly in spoken language and informal writing, not in formal registers.

Examples

"J'ai cherché partout, nada."

Natural Translation

I searched everywhere, nothing.

Free starter pack

Building your French vocabulary?

Get the 100 most common French words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.

Related Words

Explore French by topic

FrenchNow

Faire in French: To Make, To Do, and More

Faire in French means more than make and do: master faire vs rendre, weather and sports idioms, the causative, and the mistakes English speakers make.

June 4, 2026 6 min read

FrenchNow

Avoir or Être? Picking the Right Past-Tense Helper

Use avoir for the passé composé unless the verb is reflexive or one of ~16 DR MRS VANDERTRAMP motion verbs, which take être and force agreement.

June 4, 2026 5 min read

FrenchNow

French Liaison Rules: When to Link Words (and Not To)

French liaison links a silent final consonant to the next vowel. Learn the obligatory, forbidden, and optional rules, plus the s→z and d→t sound shifts.

June 4, 2026 5 min read

FrenchNow

En, Au, Aux: French Prepositions for Countries

Use en for feminine countries, au for masculine, aux for plural, and à for cities. Full French preposition rule for countries, with a lookup table and traps.

June 4, 2026 5 min read