Negative sentence structures

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Rosalyn Banks
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So far, when making negative sentences, we only used the structure ne pas. There are actually other ways to make negative sentences and to convey other meanings with negative sentences.

If the verb coming after ne is starting with a vowel, you should you use n instead of ne To say that someone doesn t have something, we say ne pas de + noun Je ne suis pas français(e). I m not French.

1 So far, when making negative sentences, we only used the structure ne pas. There are actually other ways to make negative sentences and to convey other meanings with negative sentences. In this lesson, we are going to learn other negative constructions REMINDER : NE... PAS Ne + verb + pas: it is the basic structure to make negative sentences. If the verb coming after ne is starting with a vowel, you should you use n instead of ne To say that someone doesn t have something, we say ne pas de + noun Je ne suis pas français(e). I m not French. Il n aime pas son travail. He doesn t like his job. Je n ai pas de voiture. I don t have any car. Il n y a pas de lumière dans la maison. There is no light in the house. Quand j étais étudiant, je n habitais pas près de l université. When I was a student, I wasn t living near the university. Negative sentence with the passé composé tense: since the passé compose is built by conjugating the auxiliary verb avoir or être + the past participle of the verb, ne pas has to be placed around the conjugated auxiliary verb ( être or avoir ) Je n ai pas mangé. I didn t eat. On n est pas allés à la conférence hier. We didn t go to the conference yesterday.

2 Negative sentence with the compound verb construction: for verb construction such as être en train de + infinitive verb or aller + infinitive verb, ne pas should be placed around the first verb and not around the infinitive verb Je ne suis pas en train de manger. I m now eating now. Je ne vais pas aller à l école demain. I m not going to school tomorrow. Ils ne vont pas gagner. L autre équipe est trop forte. There are not going to win. The other team is too good. Negative sentences including an object pronoun: when there is an object pronoun (either direct or indirect), the correct word order is ne + pronoun + verb + pas The word order is the same when the sentence includes the pronoun y or en Je ne la comprends pas. I can t understand her. Je ne vais pas le faire. I m not going to do it. (literally I don t understand her ) (here the verb is faire used with the near future construction) Je ne lui fais pas confiance. I don t trust him. Ils ne vont pas y aller. They are not going to go there. (here the verb is aller, near future construction) Est-ce que vous avez des enfants? - Non, nous n en avons pas. Do you have children? - No, we don t have any. Negative questions: when you ask informally or by using est-ce que (most cases), the word order remains the same as normal sentences. Tu n as pas faim? Aren t you hungry?

3 Pourquoi est-ce que vous n êtes pas prêts? Why aren t you ready? Asking a question in the negative form by using the word inversion sound very formal (written formal language). However, if you want to do so, here is the correct word order: ne + verb + subject pronoun + pas Ne veux-tu pas manger? Don t you want to eat? N êtes-vous pas trop jeune pour ce poste? Aren t you too young for this position / job? By the way, in order to answer a negative question, we use: - Non (negative answer, objection of the question) - Si (affirmative answer, confirmation of the question) Tu ne manges pas ce soir? Don t you eat dinner? - Non, je n ai pas faim. - No, I m not hungry. - Si, je vais bientôt manger. - Yes, I do. I ll eat soon. Infinitive negative form: At the infinitive form, the structure for negation is ne pas + infinitive word Je préfère ne pas répondre pour le moment. I prefer not to answer for now. OTHER NEGATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS You can convey other meanings by using one of the following negative sentence constructions. Notice that they all share the negative word ne ne pas du tout. not at all Je n aime pas du tout ce jeu. I don t like this game at all. Je ne connais pas du tout. (quelque chose) I don t know at all.

4 ne rien (du tout). nothing (at all) Il n y a rien. There is nothing. Il n y a rien du tout. There is nothing at all. ne jamais. never Il ne boit jamais de café. He never drinks coffee. Je ne suis jamais allé(e) en France. I ve never been to France. ne plus. not anymore Je ne bois plus d alcool. I don t drink alcohol anymore. Il n y a plus de pain. There is no bread anymore. ne pas encore. not yet Je n ai pas encore terminé mon travail. I haven t finished my work yet. Je ne sais pas encore parler bien français. I don t know how to speak good French yet. ne que. only Je ne comprends que le français. I only understand French. Il n a que deux jours de vacances. He only has two days of vacation. (= Je comprends seulement le français.) (= Il a seulement deux jours de vacances.)

5 ne personne. nobody, no one Il n y a personne. There is no one. Je n ai vu personne au lieu de rendez-vous. I didn t see anyone at the meeting place. ne nulle part. nowhere Je ne vais nulle part. I m not going anywhere. ne non plus. neither (equivalent of aussi but in negative sentences) Il ne vient pas non plus. He is not coming either. ne ni ni. neither nor Il n aime ni le café ni le thé. He likes neither coffee nor tea. Est-ce qu il y a du thé ou du café? - Il n y a ni thé ni café. Is there some tea or coffee? - There is neither tea nor coffee. In this last example, the question is asked through partitive article. When using the structure ni ni, the indefinite article and partitive article are dropped. Je n ai ni voiture ni vélo. I have no car and no bike. Note: Personne and rien can also be the subject of a sentence. In that case, they are followed by ne and the verb There is no need word the negation word pas Personne ne parle. Rien ne s est passé. Nobody is talking. Nothing happened.

6 NEGATIVE ADJECTIVES The following constructions can be used before a noun and work as negative adjectives. There are used to convey the meaning of not one or not any ne aucun(e) + noun. no, not any, not one Il n y a aucun problème. There is no problem. Je n en ai aucune idée. I have no idea about it. ne pas un(e) + noun. no, not any, not one Il n y a pas un nuage dans le ciel. There is no cloud in the sky. Il n y a pas un chat dehors. There is not a single people in the street. (expression) ne pas un(e) seul(e) + noun. not a single one Je n ai pas vu une seule personne quand je suis allé(e) au parc. I didn t see a single person when I went to the park. DROPPING THE NE IN EVERYDAY CONVERSATION In everyday life informal situations, most of the French speaker actually drop the negation word ne when making negative sentences. This is completely acceptable in informal oral French but should be used in formal situation or when writing. «Je veux pas y aller.» I don t want to go there. «Il a rien dit.» He didn t say anything. «Y a personne dans la rue.» There is nobody in the street.

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