Un 4.4

Negation

Until now, we’ve only seen positive sentences. But what if we forget the opposite of the verb ‘aimer’? One strategy would be to look it up in a dictionary, of course, but knowing how to negate sentences would also be very helpful.

Explication

Exercices

Negation – La négation

In French, negation is achieved using two separate particles. Standard negation involves the use of the particles ‘ne’ and ‘pas’. In a standard sentence, these two particles surround the conjugated verb (i.e. around the verb that changes for the subject).

e.g.

Nous ne dansons pas.	We don’t dance. / We’re not dancing.
Je ne travaille pas demain.	I’m not working tomorrow.

When the negative particle ‘ne’ is followed by a verb beginning with a vowel or unaspirated ‘h’, contraction occurs. The same goes for ‘ne’ when followed by a pronoun that begins with a vowel.

e.g.

Toronto n’est pas la capitale du Canada.	Toronto isn’t the capital of Canada.
Nous n’habitons pas ici.	We don’t live here.
Il n’y a pas de musique.	There isn’t any music.

With total/complete negation, noun objects that have a plural indefinite article retain their form, but their indefinite article becomes ‘de’.

e.g.

J’ai les jeux.	Je n’ai pas les jeux.	I don’t have the games.
J’ai des jeux.	Je n’ai pas de jeux.	I don’t have any games.

Negation can be used in all types of questions.

e.g.

Tu n’aimes pas les jeux de société ?	You don’t like board games?
Est-ce que tu n’aimes pas les films ?	Do you not like movies?
Tu n’aimes pas les jeux vidéo, c’est ça ?	You don’t like video games, right?

When answering a negative closed (yes/no) question, the answer ‘oui’ is not possible. In its place, ‘si’ is used to show that the reality is in fact the opposite of the question.

e.g.

–Tu aimes le film ?

-Oui. / Non.

-You like the movie?

-Yes, I do. / No, I don’t.

-Tu n’aimes pas le film ?

-Si. / Non.

-You don’t like the movie?

-Yes, I do. / No, I don’t.

In casual, informal contexts, the ‘ne’ particle is often omitted in negation. This occurs, also, in common, shortened expressions. The particle ‘ne’ is a required part of formal writing.

e.g.

Ils travaillent pas aujourd’hui ?	They’re not working today?
J’ai pas de puzzles.	I don’t have any puzzles.
Pas mal. Et toi ? Ça va ?	Not bad, and how are you?
Pas de quoi. / Pas de soucis.	Don’t mention it. / No worries.

Exercices