La négation en Français
To
make a sentence negative, you simply place ne...
pas around the verb.
Elle travaille
le lundi.
She works on Mondays.
Elle ne
travaille pas le lundi.
She does not work on Mondays.
Il répond à
la lettre.
He answers the letter.
Il ne
répond pas à la lettre.
He does not answer the letter.
If
the ne precedes
a verb starting with a vowel or a mute h, ne becomes n’.
J’habite à
Strasbourg.
I live in Strasbourg.
Je n’habite
pas à Strasbourg.
I do not live in Strasbourg.
Elle aime les
marguerites.
She likes daisies.
Elle n’aime
pas les marguerites.
She does not like daisies.
Aside
from ne... pas, there are other negations, constructed in the same way.
Il n’attend
personne.
He is not
waiting for anybody.
Tu ne voyages
jamais
en hiver.
You never travel during the winter.
Il n’a plus de patience.
He has no
patience left .
Elle ne répond
rien.
She does not
answer anything.
(She answers
nothing.)
Ce n’est guère raisonnable.
It’s
hardly reasonable.
The
negation ni… ni… (La négation en ni... ni...)
Th
e negation ni… ni… precedes
each noun that it negates. In addition, the negative particle ne
(n’) comes directly before the verb. When the defi nite article
le, la, l’, les
is used before the noun,
the
defi nite article remains when the verb is negative.
Il aime le café
et le
chocolat.
He likes coff ee and chocolate.
Il n’aime
ni
le café ni le chocolat.
He likes
neither coff ee nor chocolate.
Elle aime le bleu
et le
jaune.
She likes blue and yellow.
Elle n’aime ni le bleu
ni
le jaune.
She likes neither blue nor yellow.
When
the indefi nite or partitive article is used before the noun in the affi
rmative sentence,
the
article disappears when the verb is made negative.
Elle commande de l’eau
et du
vin.
She orders water and wine.
Elle ne commande
ni
eau ni vin.
She orders
neither water nor wine.
Il vend des oranges
et des
mangues.
He sells oranges and mangoes.
Il ne vend ni oranges
ni
mangues.
He sells neither oranges nor mangoes.
