Negative expressions

ne… jamais

never

ne… plus

no longer, not…anymore

ne… personne

no one

ne…rien

no one

ne…ni…ni

neither…nor

ne…acun(e)

not any

ne comes in front of the

verb

A negative statement, question, etc. can be reinforced, or made stronger, by adding
ex:Je n’ai pas du tout envie de regarder ce jeu télévisé/ I have no desire whatsoever to watch this game show

du tout

Pas du tout can also be used alone as a negative answer to a question

Pas du tout (not at al)

A negative statement, question, etc. can be qualifi ed or made more precise, by adding encore to ne… pas

Ex: Je n’ai pas encore vu ce film/ I have not yet seen this film

In compound tenses, ne precedes the

auxiliary verb and pas follows

When using inversion, ne precedes the

inverted subject-verb

Ne… jamais negates the adverbs__. It functions the same way as ne… pas.

souvent (often), quelquefois (sometimes), parfois (occasionally), toujours (always), and de temps en temps (from time to time)

When used as a direct object, ne precedes the verb and personne / rien follows it

Ex: Je ne connais personne qui aime ce film/ I know no one who likes this movie

Th e affi rmative response to a negative question or statement is si, not oui

EX: N’avez-vous pas aimé ce fi lm? —Si!
Did you not like this fi lm? —Yes