Making Negatives

• The regular negation in French is made out of two words, the most common being 'ne' plus verb plus 'pas'
• Other French negations

  • Ne pas
  • Ne plus
  • Ne jamais
  • Ne rien
  • Ne personne
• Ne pas

  The 's' is not pronounced if the verb starts with a vowel or silent 'h'
• Formal negation

  Ne plus verb plus noun
• Negation in speech

  Only pronounce 'pas', not 'ne'
• Negation in speech

  • Je ne veux pas -> Je veux pas
  • Tu ne viens pas -> Tu viens pas
• Negation with affirmative verbs

  Negation stays before the infinitive verb
• Negation with passé composé

  Negation goes around the auxiliary verb (avoir/être)
• Negation with reflexive verbs in passé composé

  Negation goes around the reflexive pronoun and past participle