When you want to make an affirmative statement or question negative, you need to do a little more than the way we do it in English. In this lesson, you will learn some of the most commonly used types of French negation in the present, passé composé, and futur proche tenses.
Nine Ways to use French Negation
⬇️ Scroll down for my video lesson on types of French negation ⬇️
French negation has two parts: NE goes before the verb, and PAS or another form of negation goes after the verb (see the chart and examples below).
In informal spoken French, NE is very commonly left out. For example, someone might say Je sais pas (I don’t know) instead of Je ne sais pas.
Additionally, when there’s an indefinite article like UN – UNE or a partitive article like DU – DE LA – DES being used to mean SOME after a negative, the article changes to DE or D’.
Interestingly, we do the same sort of thing in English when the word SOME changes to ANY: Do you have some money? No, I don’t have any money. Tu as de l’argent? Non, je n’ai pas d’argent.
EXAMPLES FROM THE VIDEO LESSON
| NE (VERB) PAS | SIMPLY NEGATES THE VERB PRESENT: Je ne vois pas mes amis. I do not see my friends. PASSÉ COMPOSÉ: Je n’ai pas vu mes amis. I did not see my friends. FUTUR PROCHE: Je ne vais pas voir mes amis. I am not going to see my friends. |
| NE (VERB) JAMAIS | NEVER PRESENT: Je ne vois jamais mes amis. I never see my friends. PASSÉ COMPOSÉ: Je n’ai jamais vu mes amis. I never saw my friends. FUTUR PROCHE: Je ne vais jamais voir mes amis. I am never going to see my friends. |
| NE (VERB) RIEN | NOTHING / ANYTHING PRESENT: Je ne vois rien. I do not see anything. I see nothing. PASSÉ COMPOSÉ: Je n’ai rien vu. I did not see anything.I saw nothing. FUTUR PROCHE: Je ne vais rien voir. I am not going to see anything. |
| NE (VERB) PERSONNE | ANYONE / NOBODY PRESENT: Je ne vois personne. I do not see anyone.I see nobody. PASSÉ COMPOSÉ: Je n’ai vu personne. I did not see anyone.I saw nobody. FUTUR PROCHE: Je ne vais voir personne. I am not going to see anyone. |
| NE (VERB) QUE | ONLY PRESENT: Je ne vois que mes amis. I only see my friends. PASSÉ COMPOSÉ: Je n’ai vu que mes amis. I only saw my friends. FUTUR PROCHE: Je ne vais voir que mes amis. I am only going to see my friends. |
| NE (VERB) PLUS | ANYMORE PRESENT: Je ne vois plus mes amis. I do not see my friends anymore. PASSÉ COMPOSÉ: Je n’ai plus vu mes amis. I didn’t see my friends anymore. FUTUR PROCHE: Je ne vais plus voir mes amis. I am not going to see my friends anymore. |
| NE (VERB) PAS ENCORE | NOT YET PRESENT: Je ne vois pas encore mes amis. I do not see my friends yet. PASSÉ COMPOSÉ: Je n’ai pas encore vu mes amis. I have not yet seen my friends. *The futur proche is not possible using pas encore. |
| PERSONNE NE (VERB) *Personne can take the place of a subject and ne follows it. | NOBODY PRESENT: Personne ne voit mes amis. Nobody sees my friends. PASSÉ COMPOSÉ: Personne n’a vu mes amis. Nobody saw my friends. FUTUR PROCHE: Personne ne va voir mes amis. Nobody is going to see my friends. |
| RIEN NE (VERB) *Rien can take the place of a subject and ne follows it. | NOTHING PRESENT: Rien n’est perdu. Nothing is lost. PASSÉ COMPOSÉ: Rien n’a été perdu. Nothing was lost. FUTUR PROCHE: Rien ne va être perdu. Nothing is going to be lost. |
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