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Making things negative
How to negate French verbs using ne... pas.
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Negating French verbs using "ne... pas"

In English we can turn a positive phrase into a negative one with the use of our word not.

He is here
He is not here

The "not" itself is important, but it doesn't work alone. The sentence is made negative because the verb is made negative. In our example above the verb happens to be "is".

He is 
He is not

Put the "not" anywhere else in the sentence and it won't make much sense. (Unless you're a fan of ridiculous irony... "He is here.... NOT!")

Understanding this makes it easier to understand how to form negatives in French. In order to turn a sentence negative, we need to make our verb negative. And to make a verb negative in French we simply wrap the verb in two little words: ne.... pas.

Play
Je sais
I know
Play
Je ne sais pas
I do not know
Play
Ils viennent 
aujourd'hui
They come today
Play
Ils ne viennent pas
aujourd'hui
They do not come today
Play
Il veut danser
He wants to dance
Play
Il ne veut pas danser
He does not want to dance

Note that when the verb begins with a vowel, ne contracts into n' and it's added to the verb, like this:

Play
Tu aimes les chats
You like cats
Play
Tu n'aimes pas les chats
You do not like cats

You might also like...

  • 12 Points to master French negative
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Free French Lessons

Making things negative
My, your, his, her ...
Possession in nouns
The definite article
Quantities "some/any"
Communication issues
Talking about the weather
Telling the time
Days of the week
Talking about your family
Conversation fillers
Question words
Time concepts
Un, deux, trois ... French numbers

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