Never and Ever

JamaisIn English, there's no risk of confusion between "never" and "ever," which have opposing though not quite opposite meanings. In French, however, both terms can be translated by jamais.

   

Informal Negation

Informal French negationThe rule is that to make a French verb negative, you need ne in front of the verb and pas after it. The reality of how the French speak says otherwise.

   

   

Compound Tenses and Moods: Word Order

French word orderCompound tenses and moods are verb forms which are conjugated with two parts: a helping / auxiliary verb and a past participle, as in J'ai dansé. The word order can get a little complicated when additional grammatical structures like object pronouns and negation are introduced.

   

   

Semi-Auxiliary Verbs: Word Order

French word orderIt's very common to have two verbs in a row in both English and French, as in J'aime danser. The word order can get very complicated when additional grammatical structures like object pronouns and negation are introduced.

   

Ne littéraire

Ne littéraire - Formal French NegationIn formal, usually written French, there are certain verbs and constructions that can be made negative with just ne - the inclusion of pas or some other negative word is not required.

   

   

Double Negatives

French double negativesIn English, two negatives are said to make a positive: that is, they cancel one another out, and this is grammatically unacceptable. In French, however, négation double is alive and well. Two negatives sometimes make a positive, while other times they combine to make the negation stronger or more specific.

   

Expressions with (ne …) pas

French expressions with ne pas
The French negative adverb ne ... pas essentially means "not." In addition to being useful for negating any normal sentence, ne ... pas or even just pas is found in many expressions and proverbs. Learn how to say none of your business, to be stingy, quite a bit, and more with this list of expressions with (ne ...) pas.