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To create a negative sentence in French you often just need to add “ne” before the verb and “pas” after it.
Turning a positive French sentence into a negative one is pretty straightforward. In most cases, all you need to do is add “ne” before the verb
and “pas” after it.
As often though, this doesn’t work in 100% of cases. Today, you’ll discover how to create a negative French sentence, be it in the present tense,
near future, future or imperative.
You’ll also learn how to say “never” or “nobody”.
Contents
1 How to use “ne pas” to create a negative sentence
1.1 French negative sentence at the present tense
1.2 French negative sentence at the future tense
1.3 French negative sentence using the near future tense
1.4 French negative sentence using the passé composé tense
1.5 French negative sentence using the imperative form
1.6 French negative sentence containing and object pronoun
1.7 How to ask a negative question
2 How to say “never”, “nobody” or “nothing
3 Why French people never say “ne”
In this case, make sure you put “ne” and “pas” around “aller” and not around the infinitive verb.
Ne pars pas !
Don’t leave!
Tu veux manger ?
Tu ne veux pas manger?
Est-ce que tu veux manger ?
Est-ce que tu ne veux pas manger ?
Veux-tu manger ?
Ne veux-tu pas manger ?
When you ask a question using inversion, the structure becomes ne + verb + pronoun + pas + infinitive.
Sounds complicated? Don’t worry, your grammar book is the only place where you’ll see people using inversion to ask questions anyway.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Your grammar book is the only place where you’ll see people using inversion to ask questions” quote=”Your grammar
book is the only place where you’ll see people using inversion to ask questions”]
You may have noticed that the French rarely pronounce the “ne” when they speak.
That’s because they are lazy.
Here you go, one French stereotype confirmed.
No seriously, in informal situations, it’s perfectly acceptable to drop the “ne” when you speak French.
That’s one of several differences between written and spoken French.
Je ne dance jamais.
Je dance jamais.
Je n’ai pas faim.
J’ai pas faim.
That’s it! You now know how to create negative sentences in French.
Your French will only improve if you practice, so write your own negative sentence in the comment section below this article!