PrepMyFrench
PrepMyFrench
Also known as: French negation · ne pas · negative sentence
French negation usually wraps ne and pas around the conjugated verb, as in je ne parle pas. Other negative patterns include ne jamais, ne plus, ne rien, ne personne, ne aucun, ne ni ni, and ne que, though ne que expresses restriction rather than true negation.
In spoken French, ne is often dropped, but formal writing keeps it. With compound tenses, the negative frame surrounds the auxiliary: je n'ai pas compris.
Correct negation is basic but high-frequency; errors are noticeable in every exam section, especially with object pronouns and compound tenses.
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