In writing, negative sentences have the following structure: ne + verb + pas, e.g. je ne veux pas aller à la plage. In other words, negation is indicated both before and after the verb in written French.
The first part is ne before consonants and n’ before vowels (e.g.: je n’ai pas de devoir) and the second part is one of the following: pas ("not"), rien ("nothing"), jamais ("never"), plus ("no longer"), aucun ("none").
Historically, written French has accepted the absence of pas after a small number of verbs: savoir, pouvoir, oser, cesser (e.g.: je ne saurais lui dire la vérité). This is a literary usage and the presence of pas is common with these verbs as well as all others (i.e.: it is perfectly natural to write je ne saurais pas lui dire la vérité as well).
Q: Can I say je veux pas in French?
Yes, you certainly can. In fact, throughout the French speaking world, most people rarely use ne in informal conversations (it is only used approximately 5% of the time). However, written French and spoken French are not the same. You do need to use ne when writing.
Q: Why is it comme si rien n'était and NOT comme si rien était?
Even when rien comes first, you still need to add ne (there are always two parts to negation when writing in French).
Q: Why is it je ne travaille pas le samedi and NOT je ne travaille le samedi?
Remember, there are two parts to negation in French: a) ne before the verb and b) pas after it.
Q: Why is it mon ami ne va pas venir and NOT mon ami va ne venir pas?
In negative structures involving a helper verb (e.g.: aller, pouvoir, devoir) followed by a main verb, the negation surrounds the helper verb.
Fill in the blank:
Give the negative form of the following:
Translate the missing word:
Use the italicized words to make the sentence negative:
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