The Negative Form

The Negative Form allows us to negate a statement, express disagreement,  or deny the occurrence of an event or action.  To make a sentence negative, you need two negative terms:

1. The first one is “NE”  or N’ – if the verb begins with a vowel and
2. The second one can be:  “PAS” (not), or “PLUS” (neither, not either) “RIEN” (nothing, not anything) “JAMAIS”(never) “PERSONNE” (nobody, no one).

NE goes before the verb and PAS or the other terms come after.

Think of a hamburger when you make a sentence negative:

NE is like the top bun,

PAS is like the bottom bun, and

the VERB is like the hamburger in the middle

Short Video

Grammar : Negative Form

Examples:

Je mange. (I eat.)  – Je ne mange pas. (I do not eat)
Je travaille (I work) – Je ne travaille pas ( I don’t work) – Je ne travaille plus ( I don’t work any more)
J’habite à Brampton  – je n’habite pas a Brampton – je n’habite plus a Brampton ( I no longer live in Brampton)
J’aime cuisiner – je n’aime pas cuisiner
j’ai une soeur  – je n’ai pas de soeur

Other Examples:

Ne changez rien. Don’t change anything
Je ne vois personne. I can’t see anybody.
Elle n’arrive jamais à l’heure. She never arrives on time.

When the sentence is conjugated in simple tense, the first term “ne”/”n’ “ is placed directly before the verb, unless the verb is preceded by an object, in which case you should place “ne” before the object. The second term is placed directly after the verb.

Examples

1. Je n’aime pas les légumes
2. Mellie ne court jamais
3. Nous ne voulons pas aller au travail
4. Vous n’aimez personne
5. Il n’était plus content
6. Elle ne fait rien

Au passé composé

When the sentence is conjugated in a compound tense (passé composé), the first term “ne”/”n’ “ is placed directly before the auxiliary, unless the verb is preceded by an object, in which case you should place “ne” before the object. The second term is placed directly after the auxiliary. Be careful there is an exception with “personne” that is placed after the verb.

Examples

1. Je n’ai rien mangé
2. Il n’est pas mort
3. Andy n’a pas vu ce film
4. Il n’a plus fait son devoir
5. Nous n’avons connu personne

Here are some the negative form examples :

Basic Grammar for level 1 – List

1. The alphabet: L’alphabet
2. French Silent Letters: Lettres muettes françaises
3. French Letter Combinations: Combinaisons de lettres (Practice)
4. Articles: Articles
5. Masculine or feminine nouns: Noms masculins ou féminins
6. The interrogative form: la forme interrogative
      a) Question words : Les mots interrogatifs
7. Prepositions(go, come – present) (Practice)
       a) The preposition “à”
       b) The preposition “de”
       c) “Pour” Explained: For vs. To
8. French expressions:
       a) Two words
       b) Three words
9. Accents: Accents
10. Liaison: Liaison
11. Possessive adjectives: Adjectifs possessifs (Practice)
12. The negative form: La forme négative
       a) Negative words in French: Les mots négatifs en français
13. C’est – Il est – elle est: It is – He is – she is
14. Quiz Game Level 1: Quiz

Basic Conjugation for L1

1. Personal Pronouns: Personal Pronouns
    a) Subject pronouns: Pronoms sujets
    b) You or you: Tu or vous
    c) (Practice)
2.Infinitive and conjugated verbs
3. The verb to be: Le verbe être
4. The verb to have: Le verbe avoir
5. The verb to go: Le verbe aller
6. The  verb to do: Le verbe faire
7. To be, To have, To go, To do
8. ER Verbs : (Phonetic pronunciation)
9. IR Verbs: (Phonetic pronunciation)
10. RE Verbs: (Phonetic pronunciation)
11. Sentences with ER verbs
12. Sentences with IR verbs
13. Sentences with RE verbs
14. Most Common French Verbs
15. REGULAR Verbs:
    a) (Verbes)
    b) (Sentences)
    c) (Practice)

More French grammar? Practice here:

Explore More French Grammar Levels: Click on Your Level of Interest:

Grammar Level 1
Grammar Level 2
Grammar Level 3
Grammar Level 4
Grammar Level 5
Grammar Level 6
Grammar Level 7
Grammar Level 8

French Resources for Level 1:

Do you want to practice another Resource? Click on the image of your interest: