Then, you go to Paris, and you are shocked to never hear the "ne." It’s because we don't use it. Rather, I should say, we glide so quickly over it that it disappears.
First, you should know that no French person would say "Je NE coprends pas." They’ll smooth it to something that sounds like "Jeun compran pa." In Paris, we even omit the "ne" altogether; the "je" becomes kind of a "sh" sound and the whole thing is pronounced "shcompran pa."
Of course, we still write "Je ne comprends pas." So you need to focus on the "pas” or “jamais" (never), "rien" (nothing), "aucun" (no or none), "person" (no one), etc... that replace the pas, to understand that the sentence is in the negative.
If this concept is new to you, it is essential you train on it with audio recordings. I recommend you check out my French verbs Fundamentals where I will tell you all about the French ER verbs in the present tense and their correct pronunciation, and my French Verb Drills for practice on irregular verbs.
