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Monday, January 10, 2011

ne…pas

not

With present tense:
Je ne
veux pas travailler.
I don’t want to work.
Note that ne…pas must surround the verb, in this case the word veux.

With a direct object:
Voulez-vous ce manteau? Non, je ne le veux pas.
Do you want this coat? No, I don’t want it.
Note than the direct object le must come after ne and before the verb.

With passé composé:
Je n‘ai pas dit ça.
I didn’t say that.
Note that ne…pas must surround the auxiliary verb in the past tense.

THE GRAMMAR
The most common of all negative structures in French, the construction ne…pas must be placed around the main verb. The ne comes before the verb, and pas follows it.

THIS WEEK
Last week, we looked at words that were all about possibilities. But let’s face it. Nothing can be possible, or positive, all the time. So, this week we’re giving everyone permission to be negative — in French! We’re looking at some of the most common negative words and sentence structures.

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Vocabulary Section: Negatives, Word of the Day