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Grammar
Objective: Wrap simple present-tense verbs accurately inside the ne...pas negation structure.
| Affirmative | Negative | English |
|---|---|---|
| Je parle français. | Je ne parle pas français. | I speak French. I do not speak French. |
| Tu aimes le café. | Tu n'aimes pas le café. | You like coffee. You do not like coffee. |
| Il habite à Paris. | Il n'habite pas à Paris. | He lives in Paris. He does not live in Paris. |
| Nous travaillons. | Nous ne travaillons pas. | We work. We do not work. |
| Vous parlez anglais. | Vous ne parlez pas anglais. | You speak English. You do not speak English. |
| Ils étudient. | Ils n'étudient pas. | They study. They do not study. |
Standard written French requires both ne and pas, so dropping ne is incorrect outside informal speech.
The two parts of the negation wrap around the verb, so pas follows parle and not the object.
Standard written negation. Ne precedes the verb and pas follows it.
Elision applies because aimes begins with a vowel. Ne becomes n'.
Silent h in habite triggers the same elision as a vowel, so ne shortens to n'.
The object le dimanche follows pas, staying outside the negation bracket.
Negating être uses the same ne...pas bracket around the conjugated verb.
5 exercises · about 8 minutes
Ne elides to n' before any vowel or silent h, so ne aime becomes n'aime.
Both parts of the bracket must appear, and ne always precedes the verb while pas always follows it.
After a negative verb, the partitive de la reduces to de.
A complete negative sentence with no object. The two-part bracket around comprends is enough.