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Grammar for Dummies: the negation

The negation goes around the verb (or if it’s easier to remember : make a sandwich with the verb !! )

Types of negation :

NE … PAS – not

NE … JAMAIS – never

NE … PLUS – not anymore / no longer

NE … PAS ASSEZ – not enough

NE … PAS ENCORE – not yet

NE …PAS SOUVENT – not often

NE … PAS BEAUCOUP – not a lot / not much

NE … RIEN – nothing

NE … PERSONNE – nobody

NE … AUCUN – none

NE … NULLE PART – nowhere

NI … NI – nor … nor

Attention (be careful):

NE … QUE – only = not a negation

Written form

AU PRÉSENT (in present tense):

Je ne mange pas de viande – I don’t eat meat

Je ne mange jamais de viande – I never eat meat

Je ne mange plus de viande – I no longer eat meat

Je ne mange pas assez de viande – I don’t eat enought meat

Je ne mange pas souvent de viande – I don’t often eat meat

Je ne mange pas beaucoup de viande – I don’t eat a lot of meat

Je ne mange rien le soir – I don’t eat anything / I eat nothing

Je ne vois personne – I don’t see anyone / I see nobody

Je ne vais nulle part – I don’t go anywhere / I go nowhere

Je ne mange aucune viande – I don’t eat any meat

Je ne mange que de la viande – I only eat meat

AU PASSÉ COMPOSÉ :

Je n’ai pas mangé de viande – I didn’t eat meat / i haven’t eaten meat

Je n’ai jamais mangé de viande – I have never eaten meat

Je n’ai pas assez mangé – I haven’t eaten enough

Je n’ai pas souvent mangé au restaurant – I haven’t eaten often at the restaurant

Je n’ai pas encore mangé de viande – I haven’t eaten meat yet

Je n’ai pas beaucoup mangé de viande – I haven’t eaten a lot of meat

Je n’ai rien mangé – I didn’t eat anything / i haven’t eaten anything

Je n’ai vu personne * – I didn’t see anyone / I haven’t seen anyone

Je ne suis allée nulle part * – I didn’t go anywhere / i haven’t been anywhere

Je n’ai mangé aucune viande * – I didn’t eat any meat / I haven’t eaten any meat

* be careful the structure changes with these 3

Je n’ai mangé que de la viande – I only ate meat / I have only eaten meat

STRUCTURE INFINITIVE (a structure including 2 verbs):

à the first verb gets the negation (in most cases, see *)

Je ne veux pas manger de viande

Je ne veux jamais manger de viande

Je ne veux plus manger de viande

Je ne veux pas souvent manger de viande

Je ne veux rien manger

Je ne veux voir personne *

Je ne veux aller nulle part *

Je ne veux manger aucune viande *

* be careful the structure changes with these 3

Je ne veux manger que de la viande

Spoken form:

French people write the whole structure « NE … _ _ _ » but when they speak, they almost never pronounce the « ne », so don’t expect to hear it, because you mostly won’t !! J

You can do as the French do and not use it when you speak, just make sure you remember to put it before the verb when you are writing !

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