French Grammar 110 – Negative Form

The negative form in French is made of 2 components ‘ne’ and ‘pas’ that are placed either side of the verb. It is a simple process. As in the interrogative form, the important thing to remember is not to try to translate literally the English modal verb ‘do’ or in this instance its negative forms; ‘don’t’, ‘doesn’t’ or ‘didn’t’ as they do not exist in French.

For example:
I don’t want to go out – Je ne veux pas sortir
He doesn’t work mornings – Il ne travaille pas le matin

In the past tense

The negative form in French is actually easier than in English because it is consistent and does not involve any complications when tenses change.

Examples in the past:
You didn’t understand – Vous n’avez pas compris.
She didn’t get out on time – Elle n’est pas sortie à temps.
They didn’t go shopping – Ils ne sont pas allés faire les courses

Note that the usual contraction when 2 vowels follow each other occurs here. ‘Vous ne avez pas’ becomes ‘Vous n’avez pas’ and Elle ne est pas sortie’ becomes ‘Elle n’est pas sortie’.

In all tenses the elements ‘ne’ and ‘pas’ go on either side of the conjugated part of the verb (i.e. the bit that changes according to who is doing the action). This is why in the examples in the past tense above, ‘ne’ and ‘pas’ are on either side of ‘avez’ and ‘est’ and not ‘sortie’ or ‘allés’.

Other examples:
I haven’t eaten enough today – Je n’ai pas assez mangé aujourd’hui
She hasn’t been very friendly – Elle n’a pas été très sympa.
We haven’t moved all day – Nous n’avons pas bougé de la journée.

In the future or conditional tenses:

In the future or conditional tenses the negative components also go on either side of the conjugated verb. As French does not use modal verbs, the future tense does not have an equivalent for ‘will’ nor the conditional for ‘would’. It therefore does not have equivalents for ‘won’t’ or ‘wouldn’t’. The verb is put in the right tense and slotted between ‘ne’ and ‘pas’ if the sentence is negative.

In the future:
Paul will not drive – Paul ne conduira pas
My parents won’t go to Spain – Mes parents n’iront pas en Espagne

In the conditional:
His friends would not come here – Ses amis ne viendraient pas ici
Her mother wouldn’t work that hard – Sa mère ne travaillerait pas si dur

Variations:
Sometimes ‘pas’ is replaced by other words like: ‘jamais’, ‘rien’, ‘plus’, ‘aucun’ or ‘personne’. They are all terms which combined with ‘ne’ give a more precise meaning to a negative statement.

For example:
Il ne dit jamais la vérité – He never tells the truth
Il n’y a plus de pain – There’s no more bread
Je n’ai rien mangé depuis hier – I haven’t eaten anything since yesterday
Il n’y a personne ici – There is nobody here
Elle n’a eu aucun problème – She hasn’t had any problems

EXERCISE: 110 Negative Form