Grammaire 1 La négation
On étudie !
La négation
There are numerous ways to express negation in French. So far, we have seen and been using ne…pas. This is your simple, everyday negation, like ‘not’ in English. Note the placement of the ne (n’) and the pas in the examples below: they go “around” the conjugated verb you want to negate.
| présent | Je ne danse pas. | (I don’t dance.) |
|---|---|---|
| construction verbe + infinitif | Je ne veux pas danser. | (I don’t want to dance.) |
| passé composé | Je n’ai pas dansé. | (I didn’t dance.) |
Here’s a useful comparison between affirmative and negative expressions to expand your vocabulary:
Expressions affirmatives et négatives
| Affirmatif | Négatif | Exemple | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
quelqu’un tout le monde |
(somebody) (everybody) |
ne…personne personne ne |
(nobody) |
Je n’ai vu personne. |
(I saw nobody.) (Nobody saw me.) |
|
quelque chose tout |
(something) (everything) |
ne…rien rien ne |
(nothing) | Il n’a rien lu.
Rien n’a marché! |
(He read nothing.)
(Nothing worked.) |
|
quelquefois toujours un jour |
(sometimes) (always) (someday) |
ne…jamais | (never) | Ils n’ont jamais voyagé en Afrique. | (They never travelled to Africa,) |
| déjà | (already) | ne… pas encore | (not yet) | On n’a pas encore passé nos examens. | (We haven’t yet had our final exams.) |
|
encore toujours |
(still) (still) |
ne… plus | (no longer, not anymore) | Je n’ai plus dansé. | (I no longer danced.) |
(a) As you can see from the examples above, the new negative expressions are placed in the same position as ne…pas in the passé composé: around the auxiliary. Exception: Personne is the only negative adverb that is placed *after* the past participle in the passé composé:
Il n’a vu personne. (He didn’t see anyone.)
Ils n’ont invité personne. (They didn’t invite anybody.)
(b) The adverb toujours can mean “still” or “always”, depending on the context.
(c) Rien and personne can be both the subject and the object of a verb as per the examples above. Closely observe the position of these negations in the sentences:
| objet du verbe | Je ne mange rien le matin. (I eat nothing in the morning.) | Je ne vois personne. (I don’t see anybody.) |
|---|---|---|
| sujet du verbe | Rien n’est gratuit. (Nothing is free.) | Personne n’est venu. (Nobody came.) |
(d) As we saw with ne… pas and the verb avoir, indefinite or partitive articles (un, une, du, de la, des) usually become de, d’ after any negative expression:
Nous avons un ami. (We have a friend.) ➔ Nous n’avons pas d’amis. (We don’t have any friends.)
Il y a de la salade. (There is some salad.) ➔ Il n’y a pas de salade. (There isn’t any salad.)
J’ai encore des crayons. (I still have some pencils.) ➔ Je n’ai plus de crayons. (I don’t have any more pencils.)
Amina a mangé des olives. (Amina ate some olives.) ➔ Amina n’a jamais mangé d’olives. (Amina has never eaten any olives.)
(e) Another useful expression is ne…que, but it is only a partial negation. It is used to express “restriction”, similar to the way we use the adverb ‘only’ in English. In fact, it is often interchangeable with seulement (‘only’).
Elle n’a que cinq dollars. (She only has five dollars.) = Elle a seulement cinq dollars. (She only has five dollars.)
Je n’ai lu qu’une partie. (I only read a part of it.) = J’ai lu seulement une partie. (I only read a part of it.)
(f) French allows more than one negative in a sentence. As you get used to these negative expressions, you will be able to combine them in other ways. For example, ne… plus rien can be used to say something like “nothing anymore”.
Il n’a plus rien à donner. (He doesn’t have anything to give anymore.)
Here’s an example of the combination of personne, jamais and rien:
Personne ne fait jamais rien ! (Nobody ever does anything!)
(g) Some fun expressions an proverbs with rien & personne:
| Français | Anglais |
|---|---|
| Ça ne fait rien. | It doesn’t matter, no big deal |
| Rien ne marche. | Nothing works. |
| Ça ne sert à rien. | It’s useless, It’s no use. |
| On ne donne rien pour rien. | You don’t give nothing for nothing. |
| Rien ne dure. | Nothing lasts. |
| Qui n’observe rien n’apprend rien. | (S)he who observes nothing, learns nothing. |
| Français | Anglais |
|---|---|
| Personne n’est parfait. | Nobody’s perfect. |
| Personne n’est indispensable. | Nobody’s indispensable. |
| Bouche qui rit ne blesse personne. | A laughing mouth hurts no one. |
