The 2 Words You Need to Create Negative Sentences in French

Turning a positive French sentence into a negative one is pretty straightforward. In most cases, all you need to do is add "ne" before the verb and "pas" after it.

As often though, this doesn't work in 100% of cases. Today, you'll discover how to create a negative French sentence, be it in the present tense, near future, future or imperative.

You'll also learn how to say "never" or "nobody".

How to use "ne pas" to create a negative sentence

Before you get started, it's essential for you to know that there is one case when you never use "ne" before the verb.

That's when the verb starts with a vowel. In this case, you use "n'".

Why?

Because it's easier to pronounce.

Je n'aime pas le café

I don't like coffee

Now let's see when you can use the ne + verb + pas formula!

French negative sentence at the present tense

When you create a negative sentence at the present tense, you can easily use the ne + verb + pas formula.

Je ne mange pas ce soir.

I don't eat tonight.

Vous ne venez pas demain.

You are not coming tomorrow.

French negative sentence at the future tense

The same goes for sentences using the future tense.

Je ne mangerai pas ce soir.

I won't eat tonight.

Vous ne viendrez pas demain.

You won't come tomorrow.

French negative sentence using the near future tense

The near future tense is constructed using aller + infinitive verb.

Je ne vais pas venir demain.
I am not going to come tomorrow.

In this case, make sure you put "ne" and "pas" around "aller" and not around the infinitive verb.

French negative sentence using the passé composé tense

The same is true for sentences using the "passé composé. Since the passé composé is constructed using avoir or être + past participle, you only put "ne" + "pas" around the conjugated verb, that is être or avoir.

Je n'ai pas mangé

I haven't eaten yet.

French negative sentence using the imperative form

The imperative form is used to give an order.

Ne pars pas !

Don't leave!

French negative sentence containing an object pronoun

When there is an object pronoun, instead of ne + verb + pas, you say ne + pronoun + verb + pas

Je ne le ferai pas.

I will not do it.

How to ask a negative question

You can also use "ne pas" to ask questions.

Tu veux manger ?

Tu ne veux pas manger?

Est-ce que tu veux manger ?

Est-ce que tu ne veux pas manger ?

Veux-tu manger ?

Ne veux-tu pas manger ?

When you ask a question using inversion, the structure becomes ne + verb + pronoun + pas + infinitive.

Sounds complicated? Don't worry, your grammar book is the only place where you'll see people using inversion to ask questions anyway.

[clickToTweet tweet="Your grammar book is the only place where you'll see people using inversion to ask questions" quote="Your grammar book is the only place where you'll see people using inversion to ask questions"]

How to say "never", "nobody" or "nothing

You now know how to create a negative sentence, that's pretty cool. But what if you want to say "never", "nobody" or "nothing" instead of "not"?

Well, it's actually simple.

All you need to do is... use "jamais" (never), "personne" (nobody) or "rien" (nothing) instead of "pas".

Je ne ferais jamais ça.

I would never do that.

Je n'attends personne.

I don't expect anyone.

Je ne veux rien.

I don't want anything.

Why French people never say "ne"

You may have noticed that the French rarely  pronounce  the "ne" when they speak.

That's because they are lazy.

Here you go, one French stereotype confirmed.

No seriously, in informal situations, it's perfectly acceptable to drop the "ne" when you speak French.

That's one of several differences between written and spoken French.

Je ne danse jamais.

Je danse jamais.

Je n'ai pas faim.

J'ai pas faim.