Negative Sentences in French: How to deny in French
Negative sentences (phrase négative, in French) are sentences that deny a verb, that is, an action or the occurrence of a fact or event. For example “You don’t eat sugar” – “Tu ne manges pas de sucre”.
Negative sentences in French are formed with the particle ne…pas. The general formula for negating in French is ne + verb + pas, which changes depending on the type of sentence in question.
- If it is a simple sentence, the verb goes between ne and pas.
- But if it is compound the verb is placed after the pas.
Simple sentences
A simple sentence is one that only has one verb and only one predicate. If the sentence is simple, the verb whose action is denied goes between ne and pas.
For example, the following sentence: I do not speak loudly – Je ne parle pas forte. The verb or action that is denied is to speak or parler.
Subject+ ne +main verb + pas + predicate
Subject | Ne | Auxiliary verb | Pas | Main verb | Predicate | Meaning |
Je | n´ | ai | pas | parlé | forte | I have not spoken loudly. |
Tu | n´ | est | pas | arrivé | hier | You didn’t arrive yesterday. |
Il | n´ | as | pas | bu | café | He has not drunk coffee. |
Compound sentences
A compound sentence is the one that has two or more verbs, and two or more predicates. If the sentence is compound, the auxiliary verb goes between ne and pas.
An example is the sentence: I have not spoken loudly – Je n’ai pas parlé forte. To have is the auxiliary and to speak the main verb.
Subject | Ne | Auxiliary verb | Pas | Main verb | Predicate | Meaning |
Je | n´ | ai | pas | parlé | forte. | I have not spoken loudly. |
Tu | n´ | est | pas | arrivé | hier. | You didn’t arrive yesterday.
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Il | n´ | as | pas | bu | café | He has not drunk coffee. |
The contraction of ne (n´)
The negative particle ne contracts: n’ before a vowel or silent h.
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Partitive articles in negative sentences
In negative french sentences du, de la and des are replaced by de or d’.
Affirmative sentence | Negative sentence |
Je veux du pain – I want bread. | Je ne veux pas de pain – I don’t want bread. |
Ils ont des pommes. – They have apples. | Ils n’ont pas de pommes. – They don’t have apples. |
Vous mangez de la salade. – You eat salad. | Vous ne mangez pas de salade. – You don’t eat salad. |
Other forms of negation in French
There are other ways to negate besides ne…pas, and they have a similar structure to the ones previously explained because they use the ne, but the pas is replaced with another word. The ways to deny in French are presented below with examples.
Ne + verb + negation word
- Ne…Jamais – Nunca
Tu ne pleures jamais. – You never cry Il ne danse jamais. – He never dances. |
- Ne … personne – Nobody
Il n’y a personne ici. – There is nobody here. Je ne connais personne que veux le faire. – I don’t know anyone who wants to do it. |
- Ne…Rien – Nothing
Il n’y a rien à dire. – There is nothing to say. |
- Ne … plus – No longer/ Anymore
Je ne veux plus de pizza. – I don’t want more pizza. Ils ne traville plus a la école. – He doesn’t work at the school anymore. |
- Ne … aucun – No/Any
Ils n’ont trouvé aucun avocat.-They haven´t found any lawyer. Nous n’avons vu aucun chat – We haven’t seen any cat. |
Aucun
Aucun agrees in gender and number with the noun it accompanies.
- Aucun – Singular, male.
- Aucune – Singular, female.
- Aucuns – Plural, male.
- Aucunes – Plural, female.
Examples of negative sentences in French
Some examples of negative sentences in French are:
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More examples
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