Negative phrases

Negative Sentences Basics [1]

A negative structure in French has two parts which surround the verb. The most common negative structure uses pas (or pas de) such as in the following:

Je ne mange pas aujourd’hui.              –             I don’t eat today.

…………. ne VERBE pas                          –              not VERB

Other Negative Structures

There are many other negative structures in French:

• ne … plus — no more, not anymore
• ne … jamais — never
• ne … rien — nothing, not anything
• ne … que — only, just
• ne … personne* — nobody
• ne … aucun/e* — any
• ne … nulle part* — nowhere

* when using a compound tense, personne, aucun/e and nulle part go after the past participle:

…………. Je n’ai vu personne. Je n’ai personne vu.

You may want to add “plus” (anymore, any longer) to most of these structures:

• ne … plus jamais  –  never anymore
• ne … plus rien  –  nothing/not anything anymore
• ne … plus personne → nobody/no one anymore
• ne … plus aucun → not any anymore
• ne … plus nulle part → nowhere anymore

Two More Structures

There are two more instances I want to point out:

• non plus (≠ aussi) — either, neither
• (ne) … ni … ni — neither … nor…

Related: Negative Sentences -1.

Negative Sentences – 3

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