Forming negatives is an important part of speaking and writing French. Find out how to form negative structures, then check your understanding with activities and a quiz.
Negative structures usually go around not only the conjugateWhen a verb is broken down into 'I, you, he/she/it, we, they'. For example, the verb 'to be' in the present tense is: I am, you are, he/she is, we are, they are.verbA word used to describe an action or state of being. but also any pronounWords that replace nouns, ie he, she, it, they. that comes before the verb. For example:
Je n’y habite plus. – I don’t live there anymore.
Il ne m’a pas vu. – He didn’t see me.
Nous n’en avons pas besoin. – We don’t need it.
Where a verb is followed by an infinitiveThe form of the verb that has not been conjugated and is usually translated with 'to' in English, for example 'to play'. the pronoun follows the other rules of position and goes just before the infinitive. For example:
Je ne voudrais pas en manger. - I wouldn’t like to eat [any of] it.
Nous n’aimons pas y aller. - We don’t like going there.
Elle ne va pas lui dire la réponse. - She isn’t going to tell him the answer.
