French
has a two-part negation for verbs,
consisting of the ne particle (a
global negation), and one of several other
words clarifying the type of negation:
- ne ... pas > "not"
- ne ... rien > "nothing"
- ne ... jamais > "never"
- ne ... jamais rien
> "never anything"
- ne ... personne > "nobody"
- ne ... aucun(e) > "not any"
- ne ... plus > "not any more, no longer or no more"
- ne ... guère > "not much, not any" (archaic)
- ne ... que > "only"
- ne ... point > "not, not at all" (mostly literary)
Simple
Verbs and Position of the Negation
Usually,
the element ne comes before
the verb which is marked for tense. Thus
a simple verb is usually positioned between the
ne particle and the qualifying
part of the negation:
Example:
- « Je ne sais pas. » > "I
don't know."
- « Il ne fume plus. » > "He
doesn't smoke anymore."
Note: ne always comes before object pronouns - me
(myself), te (you),
le (him/it), la(she/it),
lui(him/her/it):
- « Nous ne les invitons plus. »
> "We don’t invite themanymore."
The
Elided ‘e’- ne and n’
As
with other words ending in a vowel in French, the
e of the ne particle
is elided(contraction)when directly
preceding a word beginning in a vowel
(or with a silent ‘h’ then a vowel):
- « Il n’hésite pas. »
> "He doesnot hesitate."
Compound
Verbs and Position of the Negation
Compound
verbs are composed of the past participle
of a verb [i.e. mangé (eaten), parlé
(talked), which remains unchanged in terms of tense]
and an auxiliary (supporting) verb such as have
avoir (have) and être
(be).
It
is the auxiliary verb which is marked for tense,
and so it is the auxiliary verb which becomes sandwiched
between the first part of the construction, ne,
and the second (qualifying) part
of the negation:
- « Je n’ai pas dormi chez moi. »
> " I didn’t sleep at home."
There
is an exception, however, when personne
(no one) and nulle part (anywhere)
are used with compound tenses, with these secondary
negation particles following the whole compound
verb (and thus following the same negation construction
as that of simple verbs):
- « Nous n'avons vu personne. »
> "We didn't see anybody."
- « Je n’ai vu les enfants nulle part. »
> " I didnot see the kids
anywhere."
Ne..que (only) in compound tenses can take both positions,
depending on the intended meaning, as it is strictly
speaking an adverb and not a negation:
- « Je n’ai pris qu’une pomme. » >
"I only took one apple."
- « Je n’ai pensé qu’à
vous. » > "I only thought
of you."
In
fact, with ne...que the negation
construction is not strictly necessary, and the
same thought can be expressed positively with the
word seulement (only):
- « J’ai seulement pris une pomme. » > "I only
took one apple."
Spoken
and Written Usage
In
colloquial French it is common
to drop the ne altogether in fast
speech (but not in writing).
It
is also common in current literary
style to omit the pas particle with
the verbs vouloir (towant),
pouvoir (to be able to)
and savoir (toknow).
Thus
we have:
- « Je ne sais pas. » (correct)
- « Je sais pas. » (spoken)
- « Je ne sais. » (literary — equivalent to "I
know not.")
