8.9.1
Negatives (1/2)
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Ne... pas - Not
'Ne... pas' means 'not'.

2) Add the verb
- Je ne joue

3) Add 'pas'
- Je ne joue pas

Verbs starting with a vowel
- For verbs starting with a vowel, you drop the 'e' from 'ne' and add an apostrophe.
- Je n'aime pas.
Other Negatives
Here are other ways to express yourself in the negative. They mostly used in exactly the same way as 'ne...pas'.

Ne...jamais - never
- Je ne pense jamais à ton anniversaire - I never think about your birthday.

Ne...personne - nobody, no one
- Je ne vois personne - I don't see anyone.

Ne...plus - no longer
- Je ne dors plus - I no longer sleep.

Ne...que - only
- Je ne veux vous rappeler qu' une chose - I only want to remind you of one thing.
- Je n'aime que les pommes - I only like apples.

Ne...rien - nothing
- Il n' y a rien ici - there is nothing here.

Ne...ni...ni
- Je n'ai ni faim ni soif - I am neither hungry nor thirsty.

Pas encore
- Je ne sais pas encore - I still don't know.
1Everyday Activities
1.1Time Expressions
1.2Food & Drink
1.3The Human Body & Health
2Personal & Social Life
2.1Self, Family & Friends
2.2In the Home
2.4Clothes & Accessories
3The World Around Us
3.1People & Places
3.2Natural World, Environment, Climate & Weather
3.3Communications & Technology
3.4The Built Environment
3.5Measurements
3.6Materials
4The World of Work
4.1Education
5The International World
6Common Tenses
6.1Present Tense
6.1.1Regular ER Verbs6.1.2Regular IR Verbs6.1.3Regular RE Verbs6.1.4Reflexive Verbs6.1.5Irregular ER Verbs (1/2)6.1.6Irregular ER Verbs (2/2)6.1.7Irregular IR Verbs (1/2)6.1.8Irregular IR Verbs (2/2)6.1.9Irregular RE Verbs (1/3)6.1.10Irregular RE Verbs (2/3)6.1.11Irregular RE Verbs (3/3)6.1.12Present Participle (1/2)6.1.13Present Participle (2/2)6.1.14Irregular Present Participles6.1.15Avoir & Être6.1.16'Depuis' + Present Tense6.1.17'Venir De' + Present Tense
6.2Perfect Tense
6.3Imperfect tense
6.4Imperfect vs Perfect
7Advanced Tenses
7.1Conditional Tense
8Extra Grammar
8.1Articles
8.2The Passive Voice
8.3Pronouns
8.3.1Personal Pronouns (1/2)8.3.2Personal Pronouns (2/2)8.3.3Reflexive Pronouns8.3.4Direct Object Pronouns: Le, La, Les, L'8.3.5Direct Object Pronouns: Agreement8.3.6Direct Object Pronouns: Imperative8.3.7Indirect Object Pronouns: Lui, Leur8.3.8DO & IO Pronouns: Combination8.3.9Demonstrative Pronouns8.3.10Neutral Demonstrative Pronouns8.3.11Interrogative Pronouns8.3.12Relative Pronouns8.3.13Possessive Pronouns8.3.14Indefinite Pronouns8.3.15Ça, Cela8.3.16Celui8.3.17Emphatic Pronouns
8.4Asking Questions
8.5Nouns
8.7Adverbs
8.8Adjectives
8.9Negative
8.10Conjunctions
8.11Miscellaneous
Jump to other topics
1Everyday Activities
1.1Time Expressions
1.2Food & Drink
1.3The Human Body & Health
2Personal & Social Life
2.1Self, Family & Friends
2.2In the Home
2.4Clothes & Accessories
3The World Around Us
3.1People & Places
3.2Natural World, Environment, Climate & Weather
3.3Communications & Technology
3.4The Built Environment
3.5Measurements
3.6Materials
4The World of Work
4.1Education
5The International World
6Common Tenses
6.1Present Tense
6.1.1Regular ER Verbs6.1.2Regular IR Verbs6.1.3Regular RE Verbs6.1.4Reflexive Verbs6.1.5Irregular ER Verbs (1/2)6.1.6Irregular ER Verbs (2/2)6.1.7Irregular IR Verbs (1/2)6.1.8Irregular IR Verbs (2/2)6.1.9Irregular RE Verbs (1/3)6.1.10Irregular RE Verbs (2/3)6.1.11Irregular RE Verbs (3/3)6.1.12Present Participle (1/2)6.1.13Present Participle (2/2)6.1.14Irregular Present Participles6.1.15Avoir & Être6.1.16'Depuis' + Present Tense6.1.17'Venir De' + Present Tense
6.2Perfect Tense
6.3Imperfect tense
6.4Imperfect vs Perfect
7Advanced Tenses
7.1Conditional Tense
8Extra Grammar
8.1Articles
8.2The Passive Voice
8.3Pronouns
8.3.1Personal Pronouns (1/2)8.3.2Personal Pronouns (2/2)8.3.3Reflexive Pronouns8.3.4Direct Object Pronouns: Le, La, Les, L'8.3.5Direct Object Pronouns: Agreement8.3.6Direct Object Pronouns: Imperative8.3.7Indirect Object Pronouns: Lui, Leur8.3.8DO & IO Pronouns: Combination8.3.9Demonstrative Pronouns8.3.10Neutral Demonstrative Pronouns8.3.11Interrogative Pronouns8.3.12Relative Pronouns8.3.13Possessive Pronouns8.3.14Indefinite Pronouns8.3.15Ça, Cela8.3.16Celui8.3.17Emphatic Pronouns
8.4Asking Questions
8.5Nouns
8.7Adverbs
8.8Adjectives
8.9Negative
8.10Conjunctions
8.11Miscellaneous
Practice questions on Negatives (1/2)
Can you answer these? Test yourself with free interactive practice on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.
- 1How do you say 'I don't want' in French?Multiple choice
- 2Quel est le négatif de 'je fais du sport'?Multiple choice
- 3How do you say 'I would never eat' in French?Multiple choice
- 4What are the translations of these negatives?Fill in the list
- 5Select the correct negative sentences:True / false
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