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Negation lets you say what you don’t do or don’t have. In spoken French, the little word ne is often dropped, but first let’s see how the system works.

How French negation works (introduction)

Negation in French is a two-part system: ne and pas.

Think of them as two parentheses that sandwich the verb.

👉 Structure: Subject + ne + verb + pas + rest of the sentence

The Basic Rule

The structure is:

Subject + ne + verb + pas + rest of the sentence (complément).

For example:

• You speak French. → You don't speak French. (Hmm, we'll see in 30 days!)

• Tu parles français. → Tu ne parles pas français.

Here's another example with "I":

• I am a tourist. → I am not a tourist.

• Je suis un touriste. → Je ne suis pas un touriste.

But this is the theory. In reality, as mentioned before, we never use "ne" in spoken French. Unless if you want to emphasize (like in English when we say "I cannot" instead of "I can't")

Je nepeux pas ! (stronger and more direct than "Je peux pas") (I cannot!)

Note: You can drop the "ne", but you CANNOT forget the "pas".

The "Ne" Short-cut - L'élision

When the verb starts with a vowel or a silent h, ne becomes n’ to make pronunciation easier. This is called elision.

• J'aime le café. → Je n'aime pas le café. (Too bad.)

• Meaning: I like coffee. → I don't like coffee.

• "Je ne aime pas le café" sounds bizarre... (The sentence, not the fact that someone doesn't like coffee. Well, both actually!)

The Rule for Spoken French

In everyday, spoken French, people often drop the "ne." It's very common and sounds natural, but it is informal.

• Formal French: "Je ne parle pas anglais."

• Spoken French: "Je parle pas anglais."

1. Standard negation

Structure: ne … pas (classic)

• Je ne parle pas espagnol. → I don’t speak Spanish

• Il ne travaille pas aujourd’hui. → He isn’t working today

• Nous n’avons pas de voiture. → We don’t have a car

Tip: In spoken French, people usually say:
Je parle pas espagnol.
Il travaille pas aujourd’hui.
Nous avons pas de voiture.

So please, drop the "ne" when you speak. This way you sound more natural. And it doesn't mean you don't speak correct French. French people do the same!

2. Common contractions in speech

• je ne sais pas → j’sais pas → I don’t know

• je ne veux pas → je veux pas → I don’t want

• je n’ai pas → j’ai pas → I don’t have

Examples:

• J’sais pas quoi dire. → I don’t know what to say

• Je veux pas y aller. → I don’t want to go

• J’ai pas le temps. → I don’t have time

3. Mini dialogue

Une amitié à sens unique ... (ça arrive / it happens)

— Tu veux venir au cinéma ? (Do you want to come to the cinema?)
— Non, je veux pas. (No, I don’t want to)
— Et tu sais où c’est ? (And do you know where it is?)
— Non, j’sais pas. (No, I don’t know)
— Pas grave, on y va ensemble. (No problem, we’ll go together) — Je t’ai dit que je ne veux pas aller au ciné ! Tu comprends pas ?
(I told you that I do not want to go to the movies! Don’t you understand?)

👉 Notice how the friend starts with the casual spoken form (je veux pas, j’sais pas) but switches to the full form with “ne … pas” when getting more serious and emphatic. This is exactly how it works in real life. Une amitié bien toxique ...

4. Practice Tips

1. Take sentences from previous lessons and make them negative.

   • Je parle français. → Je ne parle pas français. / Je parle pas français.

   • J’ai un frère. → Je n’ai pas de frère. / J’ai pas de frère.

2. Speak out loud using the spoken forms. It helps you sound natural.

3. Mix with futur proche:

   • Je vais travailler demain. → Je vais pas travailler demain.
     (I’m not going to work tomorrow.)

🎯 What You Can Do Now

After this lesson, you can:

• Use ne … pas correctly in French.

• Recognize and use the short spoken forms that French people actually use.

• Combine negation with verbs you already know: être, avoir, aller, parler, faire…

What’s Next

Bravo, you can now say what you don’t do or what you’re not going to do in French. And you also know that some friends are toxic hahah!

In the next module, we’ll go deeper into grammar and learn how to ask questions, talk about the past, and build stronger sentences.

C’est pas difficile, non ? Alors on continue ! On ne s'arrête pas !! Alleeeeez !