Negation in all its forms

Do you wish to express negation in French? The structure of ‘la négation’ always involves two parts. This is essential when you need to state that you are not guilty: Madame la juge, je ne suis pas coupable.

The most common form is ‘ne’ … ‘pas’. The finite verb (the conjugated verb) follows ‘ne’ directly, and ‘pas’ follows the verb.
Therefore:
Madame la juge, je ne suis pas coupable. (Your Honor, I am not guilty).

Passé composé and futur proche
The same rule applies to the passé composé and the futur proche:
Je n’ai pas mangé de pommes. (I have not eaten any apples.) >> passé composé
Elle ne va pas travailler demain. (She is not going to work tomorrow.) >> futur proche

Negative words
The same method applies to words such as never, nothing, no longer, none, nobody, and nowhere. Here too, ‘ne’ is placed before the finite verb.

• ne … jamais (never)
• ne … rien (nothing)
• ne … plus (no longer)
• ne … pas de (no/none)
• ne … personne (nobody)
• ne … nulle part (nowhere)
• ne … aucun (none/not any)
• ne … que (only)
• ne … guère (hardly)

Examples:

• Elle ne ment jamais. (She never lies.)
• Je n’ai pas de chats. (I do not have any cats.)
• Elle n’a vu personne. (He has not seen anyone.)
• Cette paire de chaussures ne coûte que €45. (This pair of shoes only costs €45.)
• La vieille dame ne sort guère. (The old lady hardly ever goes out.)

Please note: in a sentence like ‘I never forget anything,’ you use both the word ‘jamais’ and ‘rien.’ This results in two negations. However, you only use ‘ne’ once: ‘Je n’oublie jamais rien.’

Auxiliary verbs

When dealing with an infinitive after an auxiliary verb (can, go, want), please pay attention. The words ‘pas’, ‘jamais’, ‘rien’, ‘plus’, and ‘guère’ are placed immediately after the finite verb, followed by the infinitive.

• ne … pas (not): Je ne veux pas travailler. (I do not want to work.)
• ne … jamais (never): Il ne veut jamais danser. (He never wants to dance.)
• ne … rien (nothing): Elle ne peut rien faire. (She cannot do anything.)
• ne… plus (no longer): Nous ne pouvons plus werken. (We can no longer work.)
• ne … guère (hardly): La vieille dame ne peut guère sortir. (The old lady can hardly go out.)

The words ‘pas de’, ‘personne’, ‘nulle part’, ‘aucun’, ‘que’, and ‘guère’ are placed after both the finite verb and the infinitive.

• ne … pas de (no): Je ne peux pas avoir de chats ici. (I cannot have any cats here.)
• ne … personne (nobody): Elle ne veut voir personne. (She does not want to see anyone.)
• ne … personne (nobody): Elle ne veut voir personne. (She does not want to see anyone.)
• ne … nulle part (nowhere): Il ne veut aller nulle part. (He does not want to go anywhere.)
• ne … aucun (none): Je ne peux trouver aucun livre. (I cannot find any book.)
• ne … que (only): Ce cadeau ne peut coûter que €20. (This gift can only cost €20.)

Nobody as the subject

Sometimes ‘nobody’ is the subject of the sentence. In that case, the sentence begins with ‘personne’, followed immediately by ‘ne’ and the finite verb.

• Personne n’habite ici. (Nobody lives here.)
• Personne ne l’a vu. (Nobody has seen him.)
• Personne n’a rien vu. (Nobody has seen anything.)