Let's Watch
During your homestay in France, your French friend invites you to a restaurant, and you want to try a local specialty. Your friend is happy to order for you, but when dinner comes, you discover snails on your plate! Escargots are, in fact, a common dish in France. This doesn’t change how you feel. You do not want to eat them! How do you politely tell your friend that you don’t eat snails?
You need to know how to formulate negatives in French. This lesson will tell you how so that you can avoid embarrassing situations or indicate your preferences when speaking French.
Watch this video and note how the negative is formed.
Bonjour!
Aujourd’hui, on parle du négatif.
Today, we are going to talk about the negative.
To formulate a negative sentence in French, you need two parts.
The first part is ne.
The second part is pas.
These two parts surround the conjugated verb the way bread
surrounds the filling of a sandwich.
Let’s look at some examples to see how to make a verb
sandwich in French!
Tu manges les escargots?
Non, je ne mange pas les escargots.
Est-ce que tu danses?
Non, je ne danse pas.
Parles-tu chinois?
Non, je ne parle pas chinois.
What if there is more than one verb in the sentence?
You always put the ne…pas around the conjugated
verb.
Tu préfères manger des escargots le matin?
Non, je ne préfère pas manger des escargots le matin.
No, I don’t prefer to eat snails in the morning.
Est-ce que tu aimes danser?
Non, je n’aime pas danser.
Aimes-tu chanter au concert?
Non, je n’aime pas chanter au concert.
Tu comprends le négatif?
Keep following this lesson to learn more about le négatif!
Question
How many parts are used to form the negative in French?
Two parts are used to form the negative in French: ne…pas.
