Negation
alternate forms (1): ne…jamais, rien, personne, etc.
Different nuances of negation are achieved by using the following negative expressions:
| ne … jamais | never, not ever |
| ne … pas encore | not yet |
| ne … rien | nothing, not anything |
| ne … personne | nobody, no one, not anybody |
| ne … plus | no more, not any longer |
| ne … pas du tout | not at all |
Note that ne becomes n’ in front of a verb starting with a vowel or a mute h. In spoken French, the ne / n’ is sometimes dropped. The second element of the negation is usually placed right after the conjugated verb and before the object, as in this dialogue:
| C’est dimanche matin. | It is Sunday morning. |
| Tammy: Tex, tu es réveillé? | Tammy: Tex are you awake? |
| Tex: Non, je ne suis pas réveillé. | Tex: No, I am not awake. |
| Tammy: Tu dors encore? | Tammy: Are you still asleep? |
| Tex: Maintenant, je ne dors plus! Avec toi, je ne peux jamais faire la grasse matinée! | Tex: Now I am no longer alseep! With you I can never sleep in! |
| Tammy: Mais regarde, je t’apporte une tasse de café et un croissant. | Tammy: But look, I’m bringing you a cup of coffee and a croissant. |
| Tex: Non merci, je ne veux rien. Je n’ai pas du tout faim. | Tex: No thanks, I don’t want anything. I am not hungry at all. |
| Tammy: Eh bien, tu es charmant ce matin. | Tammy: Well, aren’t you charming this morning. |
Personne and rien are negative pronouns; they may function as the subject or direct object of a sentence, or as the object of a preposition. When personne is an object, it is placed after the verb or the preposition it complements:
| Ce matin, Tex ne veut voir personne. | This morning Tex does not want to see anybody. |
| Il ne veut parler à personne. | He does not want to talk to anybody. |
| Il ne pense à rien. | He’s not thinking about anything. |
Personne and rien may be used at the beginning of a sentence, as pronoun subjects, followed by ne / n’:
| Personne n’aime se lever tôt un dimanche. | Nobody likes to get up early on a Sunday. |
| Rien n’est pire. | Nothing is worse. |
Some of the negations listed above can be combined, as shown in these examples:
| Tammy: Je ne te ferai plus jamais le petit-déjeuner. | Tammy: I will never make your breakfast again. |
| Tex: Mais Tammy, tu sais que je ne prends jamais rien au petit-déjeuner. | Tex: But Tammy, you know I never have anything for breakfast. |
