Negation with ⟦ne⟧ and ⟦pas⟧

What you will practice

• Place ne and pas around the conjugated verb.
• Wrap the auxiliary when the sentence is in the compound past.
• Use ne...jamais for never, without adding pas.

Explanation

Around the verb

In writing, ne stands before the conjugated verb and pas stands after it. Je ne parle pas, tu ne finis pas, and nous ne sommes pas là all use that frame. Before a vowel or a mute h, ne becomes n': je n'aime pas, je n'ai pas de pain, il n'habite pas ici. Both parts belong in the written sentence. You may hear a version with only pas. This lesson asks you to write ne as well.

The compound past

In the passé composé, ne and pas wrap the auxiliary, not the participle. Je n'ai pas parlé means I did not speak. Elle n'est pas allée means she did not go. The participle stays after pas. An être verb still agrees with the subject, so allée keeps its feminine e. Je n'ai parlé pas puts pas in the wrong place. The auxiliary is the conjugated verb, so the negation closes around it.

jamais

ne...jamais means never, and it uses the same slot as ne...pas. Do not write pas and jamais together. Je ne parle jamais means I never speak. Je n'ai jamais parlé means I have never spoken, with jamais after the auxiliary. In conversation, people often drop ne and keep pas or jamais alone. That is a speech habit. When you write the sentences in this lesson, keep ne.

Examples

1. Je ne parle pas.I do not speak.
2. Je n'ai pas parlé.I did not speak.
3. Elle n'est pas allée.She did not go.
4. Je ne parle jamais.I never speak.
5. Nous ne sommes pas là.We are not there.

Common mistakes

• Do not write Je ne parle pas jamais. jamais replaces pas.
• Speech may drop ne. The written pattern to practice is the full form Je ne parle pas.