Published March 28, 2024 • Updated June 10, 2026 — By French teacher David Issokson with native audio by Marie Assel Cambier
Jamais — Meaning and Pronunciation
Jamais is a French adverb most commonly used in the negation ne… jamais, meaning “never.” You’ll hear it in sentences such as Je ne fume jamais (I never smoke) and Elle n’arrive jamais en retard (She never arrives late). It also appears in expressions like C’est maintenant ou jamais (It’s now or never) and Non, jamais ! (No, never!).
IPA pronunciation of jamais is /ʒa.mɛ/ (IPA), which sounds approximately like “zhah-meh”.
Example Sentences
Ne… jamais negation
Je ne bois jamais de café le soir.
I never drink coffee in the evening.
Tu ne m’écoutes jamais !
You never listen to me!
Je ne mange jamais le chou-fleur. Beurk !
I never eat cauliflower. Yuck!
Martin ne boit quasiment jamais.
Martin hardly ever drinks.
Jamais – more example usages
Est-ce que tu as déjà mangé des cuisses de grenouille ? – Non, jamais !
Have you ever eaten frog legs? – No, never.
Jamais de la vie je ne travaillerai ici !
Never in my life will I work here!
Tout le monde t’attend ! C’est maintenant ou jamais !
Everybody is waiting for you. It’s now or never!
Marie ne jette jamais rien.
Marie never throws anything away.
👉 You can hear ne… jamais being used in the first line of song L’Été indien by Joe Dassin: Tu sais, je n’ai jamais été aussi heureux que ce matin-là (You know, I had never been as happy as I was that morning).
Related Words and Expressions
Here are some other words that are closely related to jamais:
- ne… pas — not
- ne… rien — nothing
- ne… personne — nobody, no one, not anybody
- ne… plus — anymore
- ne… que — only, nothing but
- ne… aucun — not any / none
- ne… ni… ni — neither… nor
- ne… guère — hardly / scarcely
- toujours — always
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