Ne..que or seulement?

Salut!

I'm writing up for a French Oral exam (GCSE) which I have in about a week. One of my answers contains two restrictive negatives, but I'm not sure if I've used the right ones..can anyone help?

1. I only do sport at school -> Je pratique seulement du sport au collège? OR Je ne fais que du sport au collège?

2. I only do sport for fun -> Je ne fais que du sport pour m’amuser? OR Je fais seulement du sport pour m'amuser?

I'd like to use seulement for one and ne..que for the other, if that's possible.

Merci à l'avance!

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EducatorPermalink Reply by George Hunt on June 9, 2012 at 2:31pm

The thing that I find a bit difficult is making sure that you know what the "only" refers to.

In the second example is it only sport or only for fun?

If you don't know it in the English then it is easy to say it the wrong way round in French (maybe the examiner won't notice!).

I think "Je ne fais que du sport pour m’amuser" and "Je ne fais du sport que pour m’amuser" would both be correct but they have different meanings depending on which word the only in I only do sport for fun refers to.

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Permalink Reply by Toby Ashworth on June 9, 2012 at 3:10pm

Yeah, I see your point. I guess there isn't much difference between '(I do sport) only to have fun' and 'I only do sport (to have fun)

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Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on June 9, 2012 at 3:32pm

There is a difference, it's just that the difference is made in English and French in different ways.

In English, the two are differentiated by intonation:

I only do sport for fun.

I only do sport for fun.

In French, these become the forms that George has mentioned. Assuming that you have more than one hobby, then you probably mean the first of these (so Je ne fais du sport que pour m'amuser in French).

You can also use seulement: Je fais du sport seulement pour m'amuser.

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Permalink Reply by Toby Ashworth on June 9, 2012 at 3:39pm

Yes, that sounds right. 'I only do sport for fun, as I'm not very competitive' is the sentence I'm looking for.