English / Français

Negation

Standard French makes a sentence negative with two words. Ne goes before the verb, and a second word such as pas goes after it. This page shows where the two words go, which articles change, and what everyday speech does with ne.

Two words around the verb

The diagrams below show each case against its English counterpart. In the French diagrams both negative words hang under the verb as adverbs.

Before an infinitive

With an infinitive, ne and pas stay together in front of it. English puts “not” before “to”.

Je préfère ne pas partir. I prefer not to leave.
Luc a décidé de ne pas venir. Luc decided not to come.
An object pronoun goes between the negative words and the infinitive: Je préfère ne pas le voir.
Other negative words work the same way: Je préfère ne rien dire.
Signs and instructions use the same order: Ne pas fumer. Ne pas toucher.

Other negative words

Pas is the most common second word. These others take its place.

Words	Meaning	Example	In English
ne … pas	not	Je ne mange pas.	I don’t eat.
ne … jamais	never	Je ne mange jamais.	I never eat.
ne … plus	no longer, no more	Je ne mange plus.	I don’t eat any more.
ne … rien	nothing	Je ne mange rien.	I don’t eat anything.
ne … personne	nobody, no one	Je ne vois personne.	I don’t see anyone.

With one of these words, French does not add pas: Je ne mange jamais.
In the passé composé, ne goes before the helper verb. Pas, jamais, plus and rien go between the helper and the participle: Je n’ai rien vu. Personne goes after the participle: Je n’ai vu personne.
Rien and personne can also be the subject. Then they come first, and ne stays before the verb: Personne ne vient, Rien ne change.
Ne … que means “only”, and it is not a negative: Je n’ai que dix euros (I have only ten euros).

Du, de la and des become de

After a negative, the partitive articles du, de la, de l’ and des become de (or d’ before a vowel), and un and une do too. The sentence then says there is none of it. The definite articles le, la, les do not change.

Affirmative	Negative	What changes
Je mange du pain.	Je ne mange pas de pain.	du becomes de
Je mange de la soupe.	Je ne mange pas de soupe.	de la becomes de
Je bois de l’eau.	Je ne bois pas d’eau.	de l’ becomes d’
Je mange des fruits.	Je ne mange pas de fruits.	des becomes de
J’ai un chat.	Je n’ai pas de chat.	un becomes de
J’aime le pain.	Je n’aime pas le pain.	le, la, les do not change
C’est du pain.	Ce n’est pas du pain.	after être, du does not change