Negation in French
The negation “ne....pas/ ne...jamais “ (not / never) will be positioned differently in relation to the verb, depending on whether the verb is conjugated or is an infinitive.
To make a negative statement, the pair “ne....pas” must surround the conjugated verb. Notice that there is the informal way of stating the negation that omits the use of ne (exemple: Bouge pas! - Don’t move!). This informal way should never be used in writing.
The negation with the conjugated verb
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Present tense |
The negation surrounds the verb |
Je ne mange pas de chocolat |
I don't drink chocolate |
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Compound tense |
The negation surrounds the auxiliary |
Je n'ai pas bu de café |
I don't eat chocolate |
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At all tenses |
"ne"' always precedes the personal pronoun placed before the verb |
Je ne le mangerai pas. |
I won't eat it |
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Je ne l'aurais pas mangé. |
I would not have eaten it |
The negation with the verb in the infinitive
The negation will be positioned in one block before the verb in the infinitive.
Example: Elle a très bien fait son travail pour ne pas avoir à le refaire – She did her work very well so she doesn’t have to do it again.
Reminder
F The negation always contains two elements:
Ne ... pas / plus
Ne ...jamais
Ne ... rien
F If followed by a vowel ne becomes n’
Example : Je n’ai pas de téléphone – I don’t have a phone
F When used in a negative sentence un or une becomes de
Example
F J’ai un chat Je n’ai pas de chat (I don’t have a cat)