French grammar · A1 · Lesson 7
Negation: ne… pas, ne… rien, ne… jamais
French negation has two pieces that wrap round the verb: ne before it and pas after it, as in il ne parle pas, “he does not speak”. Replace pas with rien for “nothing” or jamais for “never”. Before a vowel, ne becomes n’: elle n’est pas contente.
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How does it work?
French negation comes in two pieces that hug the verb: ne goes just before it, pas just after. No “do”, no “does”: French never needed them.
| yes | no | |
|---|---|---|
| Il parle. | Il ne parle pas. | He does not speak. |
| Elle est contente. | Elle n’est pas contente. | She is not happy. |
| Je sais quelque chose. | Je ne sais rien. | I know nothing. |
| Il parle toujours. | Il ne parle jamais. | He never speaks. |
The apostrophe. Before a vowel or a silent h, ne loses its e and becomes n’, exactly like le becomes l’: elle n’aime pas, il n’habite pas à Paris. That is why the first sentence has n’est.
Swapping the second piece. Pas is the plain “not”. Put rien in its place and you get “nothing”; put jamais there and you get “never”. The ne stays where it is. Only one second piece at a time: je ne sais rien, never “je ne sais pas rien”.
A secret about real life. In everyday spoken French, people often drop the ne: “je sais pas”, “il parle jamais”. You will hear it in every Paris café. In writing, and in this story, keep both pieces. Interestingly, the piece French keeps when it gets lazy is pas, not ne: pas has become the real “not”.
What does it look like in the story?
These sentences come from lesson 7, “On deck”, where the narrator is crossing the Atlantic on the liner Provence with Arsène Lupin hidden among the passengers.
| French | English |
|---|---|
| Miss Nelly n’est pas contente. | Miss Nelly is not happy. |
| Je ne sais rien, mademoiselle. | I know nothing, mademoiselle. |
| Il ne parle jamais. | He never speaks. |
Try it: Each sentence uses two words to say “no”, where English uses one. Where do they sit compared with the verb? And why is it n’est in the first sentence, but ne sais in the second?
« Voyons, vous, monsieur d'Andrézy, qui êtes déjà au mieux avec le commandant, vous ne savez rien? »
Come now, you, Monsieur d’Andrézy, who are already on the best of terms with the captain, don’t you know anything? Maurice Leblanc, L’Arrestation d’Arsène Lupin (1905).
How is it different from English?
English needs a helper verb to say no: “I know” becomes “I do not know”. French has no such helper: the verb stays as it is, and ne… pas wraps around it. Also, “never” is one word in English but two pieces in French: ne… jamais.
What mistake do English speakers make?
Two typical slips. First, doubling up: ✗ Je ne sais pas rien, copying “I don’t know anything”. Rien already does the job of pas: ✓ Je ne sais rien. Second, putting pas in front of the verb like English “not”: ✗ Je pas sais. In French, pas always comes after the verb: ✓ Je ne sais pas.
Where can I practise it?
- Lesson 7: On deck: the story, the rule and interactive exercises, free.
- Review 2: lessons 6 to 10: this point again, in a summary table with the other lessons of the block.
- The A1 glossary: every word of the course, French to English.
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