How French works
When negating a noun or phrase , pas is most commonly used where there is no verb :
- Il n'y a plus de riz - Pas de problème
- We've run out of rice - No problem
- Marie est de retour ? - Pas encore
- Is Marie back ? - Not yet
- Pierre adore les anchois. Pas moi!
- Pierre adores anchovies. I don't!
When negating a whole preceding sentence, non is used:
- Tu as pris l'appareil-photo ? - Non
- Did you bring the camara ? - No (I didn’t)
Both non and pas are used where a negative contrasts with a positive. Here non pas can also be used to create emphasis:
La bière anglaise se boit fraîche mais non / pas glacée
English beer is drunk cool but not chilled
Elle est Écossaise, non pas Anglaise
She's Scottish, not English!
The negative of aussi is non plus:
- Je n'aime pas la chimie - Moi non plus
- I don’t like chemistry - I don’t either
The construction not only ... but also is translated by non seulement ... mais aussi. Note that, unlike in English, there is no inversion of subject and verb after non seulement:
Non seulement il a plu, mais il a aussi fait du vent
Not only did it rain, but it was also windy
A verb can be made negative by using the negative adverb ne combined with a qualifying negative adverb such as pas. The most common negative constructions are:
| Group A | Group B |
|---|---|
| ne ... pas | ne ... personne |
| not | no-one |
| ne ... jamais | ne ... ni ... ni |
| never | neither … nor |
| ne ... rien | ne ... aucun |
| nothing | none |
| ne ... plus | ne ... nulle part |
| no longer | nowhere |
| ne ... gučre | ne ... que |
| scarcely | only |
In formal language pas is sometimes omitted after savoir, pouvoir, cesser de and oser de when these take an infinitive :
Elle ne pouvait cacher son irritation
She couldn't hide her annoyance
Il n'ose lui dire la vérité
He daren't tell him / her the truth
In a simple tense and with the imperative , the word order is the same for all the above constructions - the ne directly precedes the verb and the qualifying adverb directly follows it:
Je n'ai pas d'argent
I have no money
Ne gaspille pas d'argent
Don’t waste money
In a compound tense , the word order is as follows. For Group A above the ne directly precedes the auxiliary auxiliary and the qualifying adverb directly follows it:
Je n'ai rien vu
I've seen nothing
For Group B above the ne directly precedes the auxiliary and the qualifying adverb directly follows the past participle :
Je n'ai vu personne
I've seen no one
The word order for questions formed by inversion is the same as for affirmative sentences, except that the subject pronoun comes immediately after its verb or auxiliary :
N'as-tu pas d'argent? Pierre n'a-t-il pas d'argent?
Don't you have any money? Doesn't Pierre have any money?
N'as-tu rien vu? Pierre n'a-t-il rien vu?
Didn't you seen anything? Didn't Pierre see anything?
N'as-tu vu personne? Pierre n'a-t-il vu personne?
Didn't you seen anybody? Didn't Pierre see anybody?
For both the present infinitive and past infinitive , the position of the negative adverb is as follows. For Group A above the ne and the qualifying adverb directly precede the infinitive:
Il prétend ne rien voir
He claims he can’t see anything
J'espère ne jamais le rencontrer
I hope I never meet him
J'aurais préféré ne pas l'avoir vu
I would have preferred not to have seen him
J'aurais préféré ne jamais l'avoir vu
I would have preferred never to have seen him
(In the case of the past infinitive the rule is in fact more flexible, but is best learned as stated.)
For Group B above the ne directly precedes the infinitive and the qualifying adverb directly follows it:
J'espère ne voir personne
I hope I won’t see anyone
Il vaut mieux ne dire aucun mensonge
It is best to not to tell lies
J'aurais préféré n'avoir vu personne
I would have preferred to have seen no one
When object pronouns are used in a negative sentence they come immediately after the ne:
Je ne l'ai pas vu
I haven’t seen him / it
Je ne le lui aurais jamais donné
I would never have given it to him / her
The above rule applies for a negative used in an interrogative sentence, when verb or auxiliary and subject pronoun are inverted:
Je ne le connais pas → Ne le connais-tu pas?
I don’t know him - Don’t you know him?
Je ne l'ai pas vu → Ne l'as-tu pas vu?
I didn’t see him / it - Didn’t you see him / it?
It is very easy forget to use the ne when the negative adverb is the subject of a sentence:
Personne ne me l'a dit
No one told me (that)
Aucun des candidats n'a été accepté
None of the candidates was accepted
Remember that after a negative the indefinite article and partitive article in French are generally replaced by de:
J'ai une voiture → Je n'ai pas de voiture
I have a car - I don’t have a car
Elle a du chocolat → Elle n'a pas de chocolat
She has some chocolate - She doesn’t have any chocolate
This, however, does not apply to ne ... que as it is not negative in meaning.
Ne ... que is a very common alternative to seulement for expressing the idea of only. Here the que is placed before the noun to which the sense of the word only refers. This is unlike English which uses context and / or vocal stress to make the sense clear.
For example, in the sentence I only clean the kitchen on Tuesdays the only refers to the idea of on Tuesdays, that is the subject does not clean the kitchen on any other day. Hence:
Je ne nettoie la cuisine que le mardi
In the sentence On Tuesdays I only clean the kitchen the only refers to the idea of the kitchen, that is the subject does not clean anything other than the kitchen on Tuesdays. Hence:
Je ne nettoie que la cuisine le mardi
This construction can also be used to refer to the subject of a sentence, but in this case it must be introduced by il y a. For example, in the sentence Only I clean the kitchen on Tuesdays, the only refers to the subject pronoun I. It is translated:
Il n'y a que moi qui nettoie la cuisine le mardi
Note that ne ... que cannot be applied directly to the action of a verb . Instead it must be applied indirectly using the construction ne faire que. For example in the sentence On Tuesdays I only tidy the kitchen, I don't clean it the only refers to the verb tidy. Hence the first clause of this sentence is translated:
Le mardi je ne fais que ranger la cuisine
Other examples include:
Ses actions ne feront qu'aggraver la situation
His actions will only make the situation worse
Je ne fais que regarder, merci
I'm only browsing, thank you
Sometimes ne is used in French without having the force of a negative , and this is called the expletive ne. It is used in careful speech or writing in the following circumstances:
With the conjunctions avant que, à moins que, de crainte que, de peur que:
Je serai parti avant que tu ne reviennes
I will have left before you come back
With the verb constructions craindre que, avoir peur que, redouter que, éviter que, empêcher que:
Je crains qu'il ne soit trop tard pour l'empêcher
I fear it is too late to stop him
Optionally, in comparative phrases involving plus que or moins que plus a verb :
Il est moins grand que je ne le pensais
He is smaller than I thought