[Originally posted on 12/22/18 on the Duolingo French for English speakers forum by Sitesurf]
A negation changes the meaning of a statement to its negative. Most French negations are constructed out of two words that surround a conjugated verb.
- Je ne comprends pas. — I don’t understand.
- Il ne parle pas anglais. — He doesn’t speak English.
Note that the particle ne elides before vowel sounds.
- Vous n’avez pas de chien. — You don’t have a dog.
- Ils n’aiment pas le menu. — They don’t like the menu.
Along with ne…pas, there are a number of other negations you can use.
- Ne… plus: not anymore/no more/not any longer/no longer
- Elle n’a plus de lait. — She no longer has milk.
- Il ne peut plus marcher. — He can’t walk any longer.
- Ne… jamais: not ever/never
- Je ne sais jamais. — I never know.
- Je ne gagne jamais. — I don’t ever win.
- Ne… rien: not anything/nothing
- Je n’ai rien. — I have nothing.
- Elles ne voient rien. — They don’t see anything.
- Ne… personne: not anybody/nobody/not anyone/no one
- Je ne vois personne. — I don’t see anybody.
- Il n’aime personne. — He doesn’t like anyone.
- Ne… aucun: none/no [thing]/not one/not any (note that “aucun” must agree in gender with the thing being negated, but it is always singular.)
- Elle n’aime aucun homme politique. — She likes no politician./She doesn’t like any politician.
- Je n’ai aucune idée. — I have no idea./I don’t have any idea.
Note that in negations, indefinite and partitive articles change to de.
- Elle n’a pas de lait. — She doesn’t have milk. (Not du lait.)
- Je n’entends plus de bruit. — I don’t hear a sound anymore. (Not un bruit.)
- Je n’entends jamais d’oiseaux. — I never hear any birds. (Not des oiseaux.)
Of course, there’s an exception: when negating être, all articles may be used.
- Ce liquide n’est pas du lait. — This liquid isn’t milk.
- Ce n’est pas un couteau. — That’s not a knife.
- Ce ne sont pas des soldats. — They are not soldiers.
Negative Pronouns and Conjunctions
In addition to the negative adverbs above, you also have the option of starting a sentence with a negative adverb, which acts like a masculine subject. Both personne and rien can also be negative pronouns if you put ne after them.
Personne ne means “nobody”.
- Personne ne sait. — Nobody knows.
- Personne n’aime cela. — Nobody likes that.
Rien ne (“nothing”) is the pronoun version of ne…rien.
- Rien n’est parfait. — Nothing is perfect.
- Rien n’est si dangereux qu’un ignorant ami. (Jean de La Fontaine) — Nothing is so dangerous as an ignorant friend.
The negative conjunction ni can be used to add something to a negation and is similar to the English “nor”. Think of it as a negative form of et (“and”). Ni can be used in addition to other negative adverbs.
- Elle ne connaît ni toi ni moi. — She knows neither you nor me. (Or “She doesn’t know you or me.”)
- Je ne veux ni ce repas ni cette boisson. — I want neither this meal nor this drink.
- Il ne fait jamais chaud ni froid. — It is never hot or cold.
When ni coordinates multiple conjugated verbs, each verb must be preceded by ne.
- Je ne lis pas, ni n’écris. — I don’t read or write.
- Il ne veut ni ne peut manger de colle. — He neither wants nor is able to eat glue.
Word Order
When the negated verb has a pronoun object, it belongs right after ne.
- Je ne les aime pas. — I don’t like them.
- Je n’en ai pas. — I don’t have any. (Lit: “I do not have any of it.)
When a negation is used with an inversion (to ask a question), the whole inversion must remain inside the negation.
- Ne comprenez-vous pas ? — Don’t you understand?
- Pourquoi ne l’as-tu pas ? — Why don’t you have it?
Unconjugated verbs like infinitives must come after the negation.
- Ne pas toucher. — Do not touch.
- Elle choisit de ne pas manger. — She chooses not to eat.
Extra adverbs that modify the verb usually come after the negation. Otherwise, they follow the rules from “Adverbs 1”.
- On ne marche pas vite. — We aren’t walking quickly.
- Elle ne vient jamais ici. — She never comes here.
Other Notes
In English, two negatives may make a positive, but in French, they usually don’t. For instance, consider ne… jamais rien, which is “never… anything”, not “never… nothing”.
- Ils ne vont jamais rien perdre. — They will never lose anything.
- Elle ne mange jamais rien. — She never eats anything.
- Il n’y a rien de plus important que la liberté. — There is nothing more important than liberty.
The particle ne is often skipped or slurred in casual speech. It’s also omitted for short phrases that lack a verb.
- Pas si vite ! — Not so fast!
- Pas de problème. — No problem.
Remember that verbs of appreciation (e.g. aimer) require the definite article in French. Negations are no different.
- I don’t like fish. — Je n’aime pas le poisson. (Not Je n’aime pas de poisson.*)
Important: If you find any errors in the Tips and Notes, have questions related to the grammar points above, or would like to discuss the topic in depth, please feel free to comment below. We ask that you keep your comments on topic so that this post stays educational and everyone can benefit from them. Any spam or unrelated comments will be deleted.
For more Tips and Notes, click HERE
Selected comments on original post
Tres bien. Je ne peux jamais trouver un tel commentaire expliqué allieurs qu’ici sur doulingo avec notre mentor sitesurf. La facon que vous expliquez est imbattable. Merci beaucoup. Voici dix lingots pour vous. Ne les depensez pas completement.
Sitesurf [contributor]
Toute notre grammaire est disponible par thème à partir d’une page récapitulative à laquelle vous pouvez accéder en cliquant sur HERE ci-dessus. Elle a été écrite pour une autre version du cours mais la grammaire française reste la même.
Vous pouvez aussi la retrouver sous un autre format avec une “table of contents” ici : https://duome.eu/tips/en/zz
Merci pour les lingots !
Duolinguists 