Negatives with the imperative

Key points

To tell someone not to do something, wrap the ne … pas around the imperative verb: Ne parlez pas!
For pronominal verbs like se lever the word order changes. For the singular you form the toi becomes te again: Lève-toi!, Levez-vous!

We've seen how you can tell someone to do something using a form called the imperative . When you want to tell someone not to do something, you use the negative form of the imperative. This means simply wrapping the ne … pas around the imperative verb :

Traversez la rue → Ne traversez pas la rue

Cross the road – Don’t cross the road

Tournez à gauche → Ne tournez pas à gauche

Turn left - Don’t turn left

The rule is slightly more complicated for negatives used with pronominal verbs like se lever. We’ve seen that when you’re telling someone to do something using a pronominal verb, the reflexive pronoun comes after the verb. And that if you’re using the tu form, the te becomes toi:

Tu t'assieds → Assieds-toi!