Grammar · Negation & questions
Making a sentence negative — ne… pas
Use ne…pas to make any sentence negative — the two pieces wrap around the conjugated verb (present, imperative) or around the auxiliary (passé composé), and both move to before the verb when it's an infinitive. Once you see the pattern, the other negations (jamais, plus, rien, personne) slot into the same frame.
| Affirmative | Negative — ne … pas | |
|---|---|---|
| Present | Je mange. | Je ne mange pas. |
| Passé composé | J'ai mangé. | Je n'ai pas mangé. |
| Infinitive | Manger beaucoup, c'est bon. | Ne pas manger beaucoup, c'est bon aussi. |
| Imperative | Mange ! | Ne mange pas ! |
- Je n'ai pas mangé. — ne…pas wraps around the AUXILIARY (ai), not the past participle — mangé stays outside, after pas.
- Ne pas manger beaucoup, c'est bon aussi. — The only row where ne and pas stay TOGETHER, both BEFORE the verb — nothing to wrap around, since the verb isn't conjugated.
- Other negations use the same wrap — just swap the word after ne: ne…jamais (never), ne…plus (not anymore), ne…rien (nothing), ne…personne (nobody). Je ne sors jamais. Je ne vois rien. A few of these shift around at the passé composé — that's a separate A2 fiche.
- one word does it: not (or don't/doesn't + verb) — a single piece dropped in one place
- two pieces that wrap around the verb: ne … pas — where each piece lands depends on the verb form (present vs. passé composé vs. infinitive)
je ne mange pas pas → je ne mange pas ✓ ("pas" only once — it's not stacked like English "don't" + "not")
Watch the elision. ne becomes n' before a vowel sound: je n'ai pas, il n'y a pas de lait, elle n'aime pas.
Casual speech drops ne entirely. T'as pas faim ? / Je sais pas — normal in fast, informal spoken French, but always write ne out in full sentences.
"pas de" is the negative answer to "how much/how many." Il y a du café ? → Non, il n'y a pas de café — this is the same de-shrink as with un/une/des.
