First, letās explain what affirmative and negative mean in French grammar.
What are Affirmative and Negative Sentences?
A negative sentence is a sentence whose verb is negated with the word ānotā and an affirmative sentence is⦠The contrary :-)
I can speak French ā affirmative sentence
I can not speak French ā negative sentence
In English, the negative form often take elision (meaning contracts) in writing: donāt, isnāt, arenāt, canātā¦
In French, the regular way to make a sentence negative in writing is to use āne + verb + pasā.
Je parle franƧais => je ne parle pas franƧais
In spoken French, the āneā can contract to ān'ā. But this part tends to glide or even disappear in modern French pronunciation. So you need to train your brain to grab the āpasā! The āpasā will be pronounced!
There are other negative words (French negative adverbs, negative adjectives and pronounsā¦) that weāll study below.
Negative in French = āNeā⦠āPasā
You may already know that in order to make a verb negative in French, you surround it by āneā and āpasā.
Je parle franƧais => je ne parle pas franƧais
The āneā part of the negation will become ān'ā in elision when followed by a word starting by a vowel or a mute h.
Jāaime le fromage => je nāaime pas le fromage.
Placement in the sentence of the negative in French
French negative with one verb
If there is only one verb, itās easy: ne (or nā) before, pas after.
Je regarde la tƩlƩvision ==> Je ne regarde pas la tƩlƩvision
French Negation āNeā¦pasā Surround the Active Verb
If there are several verbs, in an infinitive construction or in a compound tense such as passĆ© composĆ©, the negation surrounds the āactiveā verb. The first verb.
1. Je vais partir => je ne vais pas partir.
2. Je suis arrivƩe => je ne suis pas arrivƩe .
Using āne pasā + Infinitive
When you are applying a negation to a verb in the infinitive, the āne pasā doesnāt surround the infinitive verb, but instead comes directly in front of it.
Jāai peur de ne pas savoir = I am afraid I wonāt know.
Note what is hard here is that the English construction doesnāt match the French one at all.
The āneā Part of the Negative Disappears in Spoken French
āPasā is definitely the strong point of the common negation. In fact, in modern spoken French, the āneā glides so much that it often totally disappears.

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The āneā Part of the French Negative Disappears in Informal Written French
You are supposed to keep the āneā of the negative when you write, but with the development of texting, we tend to leave it out in informal writing as well, such as texting, emails and sometimes even in books when writing down a dialogue.
- Ce nāest pas => Cāest pas
- Je nāen sais rien => Jāen sais rien
- Je nāy vais pas => Jāy vais pas
Please note this is not ācorrectā French. Donāt write this way on your French test! But be aware that this way of spelling is more and more common.
3 remarks about the āpasā part of the French negative
The āPasā part of the negative sometimes disappear in formal Written French
In formal writing, the āpasā is often omitted.
Cet homme ne peut chanter en public ==> Cet homme ne peut pas chanter en public.
Itās quite formal. I wouldnāt use it in spoken French or regular writing.
The French Negative Adverb āPasā is Sometimes Used Alone
āPasā can also be used without a verb. Itās kind of an abbreviation when we donāt repeat the whole sentence.
- Ća va ? Oui, pas mal, merci (= Ƨa va pas mal)
- Il vient ou pas ? (= il vient ou il ne vient pas)
- On peut y aller boire un thƩ ? Non, pas juste boire un thƩ. (= on ne peut pas y aller juste boire un thƩ).
- Vous devez ĆŖtre enchantĆ©s ? Pas enchantĆ©s, mais nous sommes contents. (=nous ne sommes pas enchantĆ©s, maisā¦)
French Negative Adverb āPasā with Stress Pronoun
The French negative adverb āPas ā is used in short sentences with stress pronouns (moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles)
- Qui veut des brocolis ? Pas moi !
- Qui est venu Ć la maison ? Pas elles !
12 French Negative āpasā in Expressions
Many expressions use the French negative adverb āpasāā¦
- Pourquoi pas = why not
- Pas vraiment = not really
- Pas du tout = not at all
- Pas comme Ƨa = not this way
- Pas si vite = not so fast
- Pas trop = not too much
- Pas souvent = not often
- Pas encore = not yet
- Pas de problĆØme = no problem
- Pas vrai ? = isnāt it true?
- Pas sƻr = not certain
- Nāest-ce pas = right? Isnāt it so?
Noteā The word āun pasā means a footstep.
Il fait un pas en avant = he takes one step forward.
Articles in the French Negative ā āPas Deā
Now letās see what happens to the articles in a negative sentence.
With the definite articles (le, la, lā, les) as well as its contractions (au, aux, du, des), there is no change.
- Jāai le vertige => Je nāai pas le vertige.
- Je joue au rugby => Je ne joue pas au rugby.
- Je parle des filles => Je ne parle pas des filles.
However, the indefinite articles (un, une, des) and partitive articles (du, de la, de lā, des) become āde or d'ā after pas (except when the verb is āĆŖtreā).
- Je fais du jogging => Je ne fais pas de jogging
- Jāai un grand-angle => Je nāai pas de grand-angle But
- BUT Je suis une fille ā Je ne suis pas une fille (verb is āto beā)
7 Particular French Negatives
There are a number of French negative words used instead of āpasā
Ne + verb + jamais = never
Elle ne voyage jamais = she never travels
Ne + verb + plus = no longer
Elle ne lāaime plus = she is no longer in love with him
Ne + verb + personne = no one
Il nāy a personne = there is no one, there isnāt anyone
Ne + verb + rien = nothing
Elle ne mange rien = she eats nothing, she doesnāt eat anything
There are more negative adverbs like that, but many are old fashionā¦
1. Ne + verb + guĆØre, ne + verb + point is the old fashion way to say āpasāā¦
Il ne le connaĆ®t guĆØre/point = He doesnāt know him.
2. Ne + verb + nullement = absolutely not
Je nāai nullement envie de lui parler ā I have absolutely no desire to talk to him/her
Negative Adjectives & Negative Pronouns
āAucun, Aucuneā can be negative adjectives (they are then followed by a noun) or negative pronouns (they then replace the noun).
They will agree in number and gender with the noun they modify/ replace.
1. Je nāai aucune amie = I have no (girl) friend.
2. Aucune chance ! = No way! Not a chance!
3. Aucun problĆØme ! = No problem.
4. Des amies ? Je nāen ai aucune = (Girl) friends ? I have none.
āPersonneā and āRienā are negative pronouns.
1. Personne ne māaime = nobody loves me.
2. Je ne vois personne = I see no one.
3. Tu veux quelque chose ? Non, rien = Would you like something. No, nothing.
Ne + verb + que Meaning āOnlyā
This negative French construct is weird because it doesnāt match at all the English way to express this notion.
I suggest you consider it like an idiom, something you have to learn by heart.
- Elle nāa quāun enfant = She only has one child
- Je nāai que dix Euros = I only have 10 Euros.
A formal, a bit old-fashioned translation would be ābutā ā she has but one child, I have but 10 Eurosā¦
Note that the verb itself can be in the negative, so the construction āne + verb + pas queā exists as well:
Tu nāas pas que Ƨa ? = You donāt have anything else than that?
[in French, the meaning would be āitās impossible you only have this⦠you must have more!ā]
Using a construction with āseulementā (only) may be easier, but you need to understand both.
Jāai seulement un enfant.
Jāai seulement dix Euros.
Tu nāas pas seulement Ƨa.
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