Negatives in French: Using Ne…Pas and Other Negations

The concept of negatives in French isn’t much different from expressing negative concepts in English. In both languages you’re pointing out the absence of a thing, action, place, ec.

Forming negatives in French sentences

The major difference in French is that negative phrases come with two parts (ne + another word). In most sentences the ne and the other word get placed on either side of the verb they’re referring to. (In spoken French the ne is often dropped, but it’s important to understand how to formally form negatives in French.)

Using Ne…Pas

The most common negative construction in French is ne…pas, which forms a “sandwich” around the verb in the present tense and means the verb does NOT happen. For example, in the present tense you might say:

Je veux le livre. (“I want the book.”) → Je ne veux pas le livre. (“I do not want the book.”)

In imperative sentences, this pattern holds true, and the negation goes around the verb command. For example:

Mentez à vos parents! → Ne mentez pas à vos parents! (“Do not lie to your parents!”)

Using Ne…Pas De

When you are negating a sentence that has either an indefinite article (un/une) or a partitive article (du/de la/des), the original article gets dropped and is replaced by de, regardless of whether the noun it’s referring to is feminine or masculine, and singular or plural.

The pas de basically translates to “not any”.

J’ai mangé une cerise. → Je n’ai pas mangé de cerises. (“I did not eat any cherries.”)
J’aime les chansons américains. → Je n’aime pas de chansons américains. (“I do not like any American songs.”)

Where to place negatives in French sentences

The order and position of negatives in French changes for certain types of verbs and sentence structures.

In compound verb tenses…

In compound (two-part) verb tenses, the negation goes around the first (conjugated) verb, not the past participle. For example, in the passé composé past tense:

J’ai fait mes devoirs. → Je n‘ai pas fait mes devoirs. (“I did not do my homework.”)

The same order holds for the plus-que-parfait past tense:

La voiture avait été lavée. → La voiture n‘avait pas été lavée. (“The car had not been washed.”)

In the immediate future (le future proche)

The immediate future construction is not its own tense (it uses the conjugated form of aller + a verb infinitive), but its negation also goes around the first (conjugated) verb. For example:

Ils vont regarder le film ce soir. → Ils ne vont pas regarder le film ce soir. (“They are not going to watch the movie tonight.”)

Ne… pas in Infinitives

Speaking of infinitives, to convey the message that you are not doing a verb described in its infinitive form, use ne pas + the infinitive form.

J’apprends à mentir  → J’apprends à ne pas mentir (“I am learning not to lie.”)

Il est important d’écrire dans votre livre → Il est important de ne pas écrire dans votre livre. (“It is important not to write in your book.”)

Negatives in French Vocabulary Words

There are several other French negative forms that follow the same general construction as in ne…pas, but replacing pas with one of the negatives below. They can serve as adverbs, adjectives, or pronouns in sentences.

Negative Adverbs

In general, negative adverbs in French refer to how a verb is NOT done.

Ne….personne	No one
Ne…rien	Nothing
Ne…jamais	Never
Ne…que	Only
Ne…ni…(ni)	Neither…nor… (nor)
Ne…nullement	Not at all
Ne…guère	Hardly, barely
Ne…plus	Not anymore
Ne… nulle part	Nowhere/anywhere

The ne should precede the verb, and like other adverbs, the second part of the negative phrase should be placed immediately after the verb or other adverb they are modifying. For example:

Ma sœur ne danse qu‘avec son petit ami. (“My sister only dances with her boyfriend.”)

Il ne pleure jamais. (“He never cries.”)

If the verb takes a direct object, keep the verb and direct object together (just like you would with any other adverb). For example:

On ne voit le chien nulle part. (“We don’t see the dog anywhere.”)

Negative Adjectives

Negative adjectives refer to what a noun or pronoun is NOT like.

Ne…nul(le)	Not any
Ne…aucun(e) (de)	(Not) Any (of)
Ne…pas un(e) seul(e) (de)	Not a single one (of)

Just like any other adjective in French, negative adjectives take the gender of the noun they’re modifying (but not the number, because negative constructions are always conjugated in the singular). For example, notice the difference between referring to un ordinateur portable:

Je ne vois aucun ordinateur portable ici. (“I do not see any laptops here.”)

Compared to using the feminine noun une robe (“a dress”):

Je n‘aime pas une seule robe de ce magasin. (“I don’t like a single dress from this store.”)

The phrase ne…nul(le) applies to nouns that are uncountable. For example:

Je n‘ai nul espoir. (“I have no hope.”)

Negative Pronouns

French negative constructions can be used as the subject, direct object, or object of the preposition of a sentence. The following negative phrases from above can also be used as pronouns:

Ne…nul(le) part	Nowhere, anywhere
Ne…aucun(e)	(Not) Any
Ne…pas un(e) seul(e)	Not a single one
Ne….personne	No one
Ne…rien	Nothing

Vous ne savez rien de ce sujet. (“You know nothing about this topic.”)

Je n‘entends personne dans la maison (“I don’t hear anyone in the house.”)

Negative Phrases as the Subject of a Sentence

For cases where the negative pronoun is the subject of the sentence, both parts of the negative construction go together at the beginning of the sentence. For example:

Personne ne sait pourquoi. (“No one knows why.”)

Nulle part n‘est aussi confortable que ma maison. (“Nowhere is as comfortable as my house.”)

When a negative adjective phrase is the subject of the sentence, the first part of the negative phrase precedes the subject of the sentence, and the ne follows the subject. For example:

Pas un seul de mes collègues ne travaille aujourd’hui. (“Not a single one of my coworkers is working today.”)

Aucun de mes coéquipiers ne sait comment jouer à ce jeu. (“None of my teammates know how to play this game.”)

Notice that these negative adjectives follow the ne… pas de construction mentioned earlier: the de never changes to des, du, or de la.

Negatives in French Word Order in Compound Sentences

In most two-part verb phrases, the ne goes first, followed by the first verb and then either the infinitive or the second verb (in compound verb tenses), followed by the second part of the negative form.

For example, in the present tense + infinitive form and in the immediate future:

Je ne veux aller nulle part. (“I do not want to go anywhere.”)

Je ne vais trouver aucun. (“I am not going to find any”)

An exception to this order is that when the negative phrase is an adverb, it generally goes after the first verb. For example:

Je ne vais jamais essayer ça. (“I am never going to try that.”)

In compound verb tenses like the passé composé and the past conditional, negative adjectives and pronouns go after both verbs. For example:

Je n‘ai dit personne (“I told no one”)

Je n‘aurais été heureux nulle part. (“I would not have been happy anywhere.”)

However, with negative adverbs, again the adverb will generally follow the first verb.

Ils n‘auraient plus ri. (“They would not have laughed anymore.”)

Je n‘aurais jamais dit que si j’avais su. (“I would never have said that if I had known.”)

Special word order rules for rien

With rien, in two-part verb constructions like the immediate future and the present + infinitive, rien goes immediately after the infinitive verb. For example:

Elle ne va rien acheter aujourd’hui. (“She’s not going to buy anything today.”)

Il ne peut rien voir. (“He can’t see anything.)

Similarly, in compound verb tenses, the rien goes immediately after the first verb. For example:

Je n‘ai rien dit. (“I did not say anything.”)

Je n‘ai rien découvert. (“I discovered nothing.”)

When the negative is the subject of the sentence in two-part sentences

Finally, when you have a negative, two-part phrase that’s also the subject of the sentence, the two parts of the negative phrase precede both verbs, with the ne coming second. For example:

Personne n‘est venu. (“No one came.”)

Rien n’a été livré. (“Nothing has been delivered.”)

Ni la lecture ni l’écriture n‘ont rendu mon ami heureux. (“Neither reading nor writing made my friend happy.”)

Negatives in French and Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns

There’s one more factor to consider when you’re mastering French negation: where to fit in the object pronouns?

When you are using “normal” nouns, their location in the sentence almost always matches up with where you would place the noun in English. But with French object pronouns, you’ll need to think through where to place them in any sentence with a negative construction.

In our direct and indirect object pronouns lesson, we discuss object pronouns and negation more thoroughly, but the most important thing to learn is the order that object pronouns are used in sentences (which is the same order for both normal and imperative sentences when you’re using negation).

This chart shows the order that is used in both simple and compound tenses. For example:

Elle ne m‘a présenté personne. (“She introduced me to no one.”)

Nous n‘y allons plus (“We don’t go there anymore”)

Il ne nous le montre pas. (“He does not show us it.”)

Je ne les vois pas (“I do not see them.”)

Je ne leur montrerai rien. (“I will show them nothing.”)

With the immediate future and verb + infinitive

However, in the immediate future and present tense + infinitive constructions, the ne…pas (or other negation) goes around the conjugated present tense verb (which is always aller for the immediate future) and before the object pronoun and the verb infinitive. For example:

Ils ne vont pas nous appeler. (“They are not going to call us.”)

Nous n‘allons pas le prendre (“We are not going to take it.”)

Je ne peux pas l‘attraper. (“I can’t catch it.”)

Next Steps after Negatives in French

And that covers all of the major concepts in French negation! That was a lot, right? From here, you might want to work on your subject or object pronouns, or learn more about the immediate future and immediate past.