French Negation ~ La Négation
Making sentences negative in French is a bit more complicated than in English. This summary of the different kinds of negation and negation-related grammatical structures should help clear up some of the confusion. The title of each negation category links to a detailed lesson with examples of usage and a quiz.
| Examples | |
| Negative adverbs (the most common negative words) | |
| Negate or restrict the action of the verb they modify. | ne... pas ne... jamais |
| Negative adjectives | |
| Negate or cast doubt on a quality of the noun they modify. | ne... nul ne... aucun |
| Negative pronouns | |
| Negate or cast doubt on the existence of the noun they replace. | ne... rien ne... personne |
| Negative conjunction | |
| There's only one, and it's used just like a negative pronoun. | ne... ni... ni... |
| Ne explétif | |
| Some French expressions are followed by a non-negative ne. | nier ne... à moins que... ne |
| Ne littéraire | |
| In literary writing, certain verbs don't need pas. | ne savoir... ne pouvoir... |
| Negative questions | |
| There's a special French word to respond yes to negative questions. | - N'as-tu pas mangé ? - Si ! |
| Ne pas | |
| Ne pas is used together in front of the infinitive. | Ne pas ouvrir la fenêtre. |
| N'importe... expressions | |
| Designate an unspecified person, thing, or characteristic. | n'importe qui n'importe quel... |
| Pas | |
| Negate a non-verbal structure. | pas beaucoup pas souvent |
| Formal negation | |
| There are three negative structures particular to formal French. | ne... point avant qu'il ne... |
| Informal negation | |
| Ne is often dropped in spoken French. | Je sais pas. Bouge pas ! |
| Double Negatives | |
| Two negatives don't make a positive in French. | Ce n'est pas rien. Je n'ai jamais vu personne. |
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Non |
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