Enrichissement - Grammar

French: AQA A Level, topic 4.1.4

Using the negative form in French.

You use the negative form in French to turn a positive phrase or question into a negative one.
For example in English, we have a good ethnic mix in my school becomes we do not have a good ethnic mix in my school.
In this case, the do not in English is the negative form.
In French, you need one ‘piece’ of the negative form around either side of the verb you are using.
We could say that the negative form is squashing the verb.

To use the negative form ‘not’ in French
- ne + (conjugated verb in the tense you want to talk in) + pas
  - Il ne parle pas aux autres = He does not speak to others
To use the negative form ‘never’ in French
ne + (conjugated verb in the tense you want to talk in) + jamais
- Ils ne mangent jamais des différents types de cuisine = They never eat different types of cuisine

To use the negative form ‘no longer’ in French
- ne + (conjugated verb in the tense you want to talk in) + plus
  - Nous ne demande plus aux candidats leur ethnicité = We no longer ask candidates their ethnicity
To use the negative form ‘nothing’ in French
ne + (conjugated verb in the tense you want to talk in) + rien
- Vous ne connaissez rien aux personnes maghrébins = You don’t know anything about people of North African origin.

To use the negative form ‘only’’ in French
ne + (conjugated verb in the tense you want to talk in) + que
- Elle ne travaillerait que pour une société multiculturelle = She would only work for a multicultural firm.

When using the negative form with the perfect tense, you need to use it around the auxiliary verb ‘avoir’ or ‘être’; whichever one you need to have used to form the perfect tense.
- J’ai habité avec un ami 🡪 Je n’ai pas habité avec un ami
You can see here that the negative form is around the verb ‘avoir’ in the perfect tense formation with je n’ai pas.
- Elle est venu d’Espagne 🡪 Elle n’est pas venue d’Espagne
You can see here that the negative form is around the verb ‘etre’ in the perfect tense formation with elle n’est pas.

If your verb starts with a vowel or a vowel sound like the silent ‘h’ in French, you will need to remove the e from ne.
- Je ne habite jamais seul 🡪 je n’habite jamais seul.
This is also the case for there is not, where il y a becomes il n’y a pas.

If your sentence needs to be made negative but it has 2 verbs in it, the negative form will need to go around the first verb.
Il ne va que manger au restaurant.
(This sentence has 2 verbs in it - va from the present tense of aller and also manger).
However, the negative form only needs to go around the first verb in the sentence.

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