We use negation expressions in French to say that something didn’t happen, isn’t a certain way, or won’t be the case in the future. Expressions like Je ne sais pas(I don't know), je ne sais rien(I know nothing), and je ne sais jamais(I never know) are all examples of negation in French. Of course, I’m sure you know the most common negative expression ne...pas(not). But the French language is so rich that you have more than a dozen more French negative structures to discover!
In this post, we’ll review the most common negative structures in French, the position of the negation expressions in a sentence, when ne can be omitted, when pas can be omitted, and more. C’est parti !(Let’s get started!)
All negative structures in French are made of two parts. The negation word ne is almost always part of the negative structure (and it is typically the first element), but the second part varies. Though pas is the most common second element, there are many more to learn! Here, I am listing the “b.a.-ba” (ABCs) of the negative structures that are useful for you to know, as well as their affirmative equivalents.
Affirmative | Negative | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
Affirmative | Negative | ||
le, la, l’, les the | ne…pas le/la/l’/les not | J’aime les frites. I like French fries. | Je n'aime pas les frites. I don’t like French fries. |
un, une, des, du, de / la, de l', des a / some | ne…pas de not | Elle écoute de la musique. She listens to music. | Elle n’écoute pas de musique. She doesn't listen to music. |
encore / toujours still | ne…plus no more, no longer | On veut encore attendre. We still want to wait. Il habite toujours à Nîmes. He still lives in Nîmes. | On ne veut plus attendre. We no longer want to wait. Il n’habite plus à Nîmes. He no longer lives in Nîmes. |
quelque chose, tout something, everything | ne…rien / rien…ne nothing, not anything | Ils achètent tout ! They’re buying everything. | Ils n’achètent rien. They're buying nothing. |
quelqu’un, tout le monde someone, everyone | ne…personne / personne…ne no one, nobody, not anybody | Vous connaissez tout le monde. You know everybody. | Vous ne connaissez personne. You don't know anyone. |
quelque part somewhere | ne…nulle part nowhere, not anywhere | Vous sortez quelque part ? Are you going out somewhere? | Vous ne sortez nulle part ? You aren’t going out anywhere? |
Some useful points to remember:
Ne becomes n’ in front of a vowel or mute h. It makes the pronunciation much easier.
Rien, jamais, personne, plus, etc. replace pas as the second element of the negative structure. So there’s no need to use both!
❌ Il ne dit pas rien → ✅ Il ne dit rien
He says nothing.
The indefinite articles un, une, des(a/some) and the partitive articles du, de la, de l’, des(some) only have one form in the negative. 🥁 Drum roll…it is de!
J’ai de la fièvre. ≠ Je n’ai pas de fièvre.
I have a fever. ≠ I don’t have a fever.
Only the definite articles le, la l’, les stay in the negative sentence:
Ils aiment bien les films de super-héros. ≠ Ils n’aiment pas les films de super-héros.
They like superhero movies. ≠ They don’t like superhero movies.
There are many more French negative structures that I will use in my examples throughout this post.
Generally, in a French sentence, negation goes around the conjugated verb. However, as you begin to negate compound tensesNo definition set for compound tensesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., verbs followed by infinitives, pronominal verbsNo definition set for pronominal verbsLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., verbs with object pronounsNo definition set for object pronounsLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., and infinitivesNo definition set for infinitivesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., the placement of the negative structure can be a bit more complicated.
As I give you the word order, I will use a variety of negative structures in my examples. Keep in mind that pas can be replaced by any of the other negation words that you’ve seen above (jamais, plus, etc.).
Simple Tenses
ne
conjugated verb
pas/rien/jamais/…
Ses enfants ne vont jamais chez le coiffeur.
Her children never go to the hairdresser.
Compound Tenses
ne
conjugated verb
pas/rien/jamais/…
past participleNo definition set for past participleLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Nous n'avions rien commandé.
We haven't ordered anything.
Personne and nulle part are placed after the past participle.
On n'a vu personne.
We didn’t see anyone.
Elle n'est allée nulle part hier soir.
She didn’t go anywhere last night.
Negated verb + infinitive
Some examples: modal verbs (pouvoir, devoir, vouloir…) + infinitive or near future (aller + infinitive)
ne
conjugated verb
pas/rien/jamais/…
infinitive
Tu ne devras plus arriver en retard !
You mustn’t be late anymore!
Personne and nulle part are placed after the infinitive verb.
On ne va parler à personne, d’accord ?
We’re not going to talk to anyone, OK?
Anne ne veut aller nulle part.
Anne doesn’t want to go anywhere.
With a pronominal verb
In both simple and compound tenses:
ne
reflexive pronoun
Mon fils ne s'appellera pas Alexandre!
My son won’t be named Alexander!
Nous ne nous sommes jamais disputés.
We never argued with each other.
Note: The position of the second part of the negation (e.g. pas/rien/jamais…) depends on the tense. See the rules above!
With an object pronoun
In both simple and compound tenses:
ne
first object pronoun
Il ne la vendra jamais!
He will never sell it!
Je ne lui ai rien demandé.
I didn’t ask him anything.
Note: Again, the position of the second part of the negation (e.g. pas/rien/jamais…) depends on the tense. See the rules above!
To negate the infinitive verb itself
ne
pas/rien/jamais/…
(pronouns)
infinitive verb
Ils ont décidé de ne pas voyager.
They decided not to travel.
Il m’a demandé de ne jamais les ranger.
He asked me to never put them away.
With personne / rien as a subject
personne / rien
ne
verb
Personne ne joue ?
Nobody is playing?
Rien ne marche !
Nothing is working!
You can also use negation in questions in French, which can form negative questions or even tag questions.
It is possible to use several negation words in one single sentence, but they must follow a set order, with ne coming first. For example:
Papa, maman, vous ne comprenez jamais rien !
Dad, mum, you never understand anything!
Here is the specific order of negation words to follow:
ne
plus
no more
jamais
never
rien
nothing
personne
nobody
que
only
nulle parte
nowhere
Wait, what’s que? The restriction phrase ne…que can be used alongside a negation, so it’s important for you to know where it goes! Look here for more info about ne…que in French.
Je ne mange plus que des pâtes sans gluten.
I now only eat gluten free pasta.
That being said, how would you say, “After that, he never ate anywhere again”?
Après ça, il n’a plus jamais rien mangé nulle part.
You’ve now looked at the position of the negation(s), but in speaking, ne is often omitted. Let's find out when!
It’s normal for French native speakers to omit the negation word ne when speaking in informal situations. Take a look:
Formal:
Elle ne voulait plus de café.
Informal:
Elle voulait plus de café.
She didn’t want any more coffee.
The above sentence omits ne in front of the verb, but you can also leave ne out in front of an adjective or an adverb and just add the second part of the negation pas, plus, etc. Keep in mind these structures remain informal and it is always possible to add ne.
pas + adjective
C’est pas normal de manger des sardines au petit-déjeuner !
It's not normal to eat sardines for breakfast!
pas + adverb
Je sais pas vraiment si j’aurai de la place dans mon coffre pour mettre tous tes cartons !
I don't really know if I'll have room in my trunk to put all your boxes!
Can you believe there is a difference between Elle mange plus and Elle mange plus? It has something to do with the pronunciation…
In the first sentence, pronounced plus[plus] means “more” → “She eats more.”
In the second sentence, plus[plu] is the negation ne…plus, with ne being omitted! → “She no longer eats.”
Sometimes, pas is used on its own in front of a noun or a pronoun or as an equivalent to “not.”
pas + noun
Tu es libre vendredi soir ?
Are you free on Friday night?
Pas vendredi, je travaille jusqu’à 22h.
Not on Friday, I’m working until 10pm.
pas + pronoun
Pas lui ! Je ne peux pas supporter ses blagues !
Not him! I can’t stand his jokes.
pas alone, as an equivalent to “not.”
Tu viendras avec nous, ou pas ?
Will you be coming with us, or not?
Check out this list of common French expressions using pas!
Although leaving ne out is the most common omission in French, there are also occurrences where you can leave pas out too. Let’s take a look!
You’ll often hear French speakers use ne without pas in front of the infinitive verbs pouvoir(to be able to, can), savoir(to know), cesser(to cease), and oser(to dare).
Joël ne cesse de grandir!
Joël doesn’t stop growing!
After the expression il y a + time + que (it has been + time + since), we can also use ne on its own.
Il y a trois ans qu'ils n’ont (pas) travaillé ensemble.
It’s been three years since they last worked together.
As an alternative to il y a, you can also use voici, voilà, or more informally ça fait.
Voici 10 jours qu’il n’a (pas) téléphoné.
He hasn’t called for 10 days.
I hope this post has helped you understand how to use the negative structures in French. One more question you might have is why ne is sometimes used on its own in cases which are not negation. This is called the French ne explétif and you can find out more about it by reading our article. If you would like to practice or test your skills, here are some fun French negative expressions activities for you.
When using negative structures in French, keep the following tips in mind:
The basic negative structure is ne...pas(not), which is placed around the negated verb. In compound tenses like the passé composé, it goes around the auxiliary être/avoir(to be/to have), and when a conjugated verb is followed by an infinitive, ne...pas surrounds the conjugated verb only.
In informal speech, ne/n’ is often dropped, after verbs, nouns, pronouns, adverbs, and adjectives.
The negative expressions ne…jamais(never), ne…plus(no longer), ne…rien(nothing), ne…pas du tout(not at all) follow the same word order as ne...pas.
The negative pronoun personne(no one) and rien(nothing) can be placed at the beginning of the sentence — followed by ne — when they are subjects or after the verb when they are direct objects.
Pas can be omitted in the expression il y a + time + que.
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