Negation – ne…pas

The standard negation in French uses two parts: ne before the verb and pas after the verb.

French negation = ne ... pas around the verb.

Je ne parle pas = I do not speak

In spoken French the ne is very often dropped leaving just pas to carry the negation.

Spoken French often drops the ne.

Je parle pas (informal) = I don't speak

Before a vowel or silent h ne contracts to n'.

Ne → n' before vowel or silent h.

Je n'aime pas / Il n'est pas / Elle n'a pas

In compound tenses (passé composé) ne…pas wraps around the auxiliary verb not the past participle.

In compound tenses ne…pas goes around the auxiliary.

Je n'ai pas mangé = I did not eat (not je n'ai mangé pas)

Ne…jamais means never. It replaces pas and follows the same placement rule.

Ne…jamais = never.

Je ne mange jamais de viande = I never eat meat

Ne…plus means no longer / not anymore.

Ne…plus = no longer / not anymore.

Il ne travaille plus ici = He no longer works here

Ne…rien means nothing. Rien can also be used as the subject of a sentence.

Ne…rien = nothing.

Je ne vois rien = I see nothing / Rien n'est parfait

Ne…personne means nobody / no one. Personne can also be the subject.

Ne…personne = nobody / no one.

Je ne connais personne = I know nobody

Ne…que means only. It is a restrictive expression not technically a negation.

Ne…que = only (restrictive not truly negative).

Ne…que

Je n'ai qu'un euro = I only have one euro

After negation the indefinite articles un une des and partitive articles du de la de l' change to de / d'.

After negation articles change to de/d'.

J'ai un chien → Je n'ai pas de chien