French negation
French negation wraps around the verb: ne before it, pas (or another word) after it. In everyday speech the ne often disappears, but you'll need it in writing.
The essentials
- Ne… pas around the conjugated verb: je ne parle pas.
- Other negatives: ne… jamais (never), ne… rien (nothing), ne… personne (nobody), ne… plus (no longer), ne… que (only).
- After a negative, un, une, du, de la and des become de (je n'ai pas de voiture), except after être (ce n'est pas un problème).
- In compound tenses the negation goes around the auxiliary: je n'ai pas mangé.
Every lesson on this topic
Each lesson has a full explanation, examples you can listen to, and exercises with answers.
A1 (the A1 course)
- Negation: Je ne parle pas
- Negation: Never, no longer, nothing
- Indefinite articles after negation: Je n'ai pas de voiture
A2 (the A2 course)
- Negation with the passé composé: Je n'ai pas mangé
- Negation: Nobody, not a single, only
B1 (the B1 course)
- Negation: Neither … nor
B2 (the B2 course)
- Negation: Hardly, nowhere, not at all
C1 (the C1 course)
- Ne explétif: Avant qu'il ne parte, j'ai peur qu'il ne pleuve
C2 (the C2 course)
- Ne on its own: ne… point, je ne saurais: Literary negation without pas
In the app, these lessons are taught one idea at a time with audio, practised until you get them right on three separate days, and brought back when your own French shows a mistake on them.
Other topics
- The French subjunctive, explained
- French past tenses, explained
- French future and conditional, explained
- French articles and noun gender
- French pronouns, from je to lequel
- French verbs and tenses
- French adjectives and adverbs
- Asking questions in French
- French prepositions and conjunctions
- French numbers, time and dates
- French idioms and useful structures