French Grammar Explained /
Negative partitive articles
Remember the idea of countable and non-countable word contexts and how it relates to French nouns?
Il y a du pain sur la table.
There's (some) bread on the table.
Yes, I remember! I'm still working on perfecting it though.
That's great! There is a second part to this construction for sentences in the negative: ne ... pas, ne ... jamais, ne ... plus.
There's more?!
Don't worry, we'll learn it step by step.
Partitive articles du, de la, de l', des all become de, d' in negative sentences.
Oh, that's nice, they're so short!
I know! Let's take a look:
Je mange des pommes.
I eat apples. | → | Je ne mange pas de pommes.
I don't eat (any) apples. |
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Je bois du lait.
I drink milk. | → | Je ne bois pas de lait.
I don't drink (any) milk. |
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J'ai des animaux.
I have (some) animals. | → | Je n'ai pas d'animaux.
I don't have (any) animals. |
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Nous buvons de la bière.
We drink beer. | → | Nous ne buvons pas de bière.
We don't drink (any) beer. |
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Vous mangez de la viande?
Do you eat meat? | → | Non, on ne mange jamais de viande.
No, we never eat (any) meat. |
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Tu fais encore de la natation ?
Do you still swim? | → | Non, je ne fais plus de natation.
No, I don't swim anymore. |
That's not so bad.
I'm glad you think so! Just remember:
This rule does not apply to sentences using the verb être
C'est du sel de mer ?
Is that sea salt? | → | Non, ce n'est pas du sel de mer.
No, it's not sea salt. |
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C'est de l'huile d'olive ?
Is this olive oil? | → | Non, ce n'est pas de l'huile d'olive.
No, this is not olive oil. |
Noted! être is always so special...