French Grammar Explained /
Negations
Do you remember what we said about the negative form of verbs in French? Like in the example I don't like working.
It had something to do with a sandwich?
Exactement ! In French, the negative form consists of two parts: ne and pas, and the verb goes in between. Like a sandwich!
Je n'aime pas travailler.
So far, so good. First of all, it is important to know that there are different types of sandwiches in French:
| never | → | ne... jamais |
| nobody | → | ne... personne |
| nothing | → | ne... rien |
| no more | → | ne... plus |
| not yet | → | ne... pas encore |
Now that you've seen the table, let's make some sandwiches!
Yes, I'm starving!
Je connais tout le monde ici.
I know everyone here.
Elle veut toujours jouer aux cartes.
She always wants to play cards.
Oh you meant that kind of sandwiches... Well, here I have to use ne ... personne and ne ... jamais, right? So it would be...
Je ne connais personne ici.
Elle ne veut jamais jouer aux cartes
Magnifique !
In spoken French ne is mostly dropped. In most cases you will hear:
J'aime pas travailler.
Je connais personne ici.
Je veux plus jouer aux cartes.