French Grammar Tip: How to use negation (ne... pas, ne... jamais, ne... plus)

You've probably been taught that you put the formulation ne... pas around a verb to make a sentence negative, but there are several other forms and, in everyday spoken French, you will often hear people dropping the ne altogether.

In standard French, the most common way to make a sentence negative is to put ne before the verb and pas after it.

Quick tip: The n' is simply a shortened version of ne . It follows the same rules, but is used when the next word starts with a vowel or a silent h . More on that below.

Pas isn't the only word that can follow ne . There are several other negative expressions.

ne... plus (no longer / not anymore) - Je ne travaille plus ici. (I don't work here anymore.)

ne... rien (nothing / not anything) - Je ne vois rien . (I can't see anything.)

ne... personne (nobody/no one at all) - Je ne connais personne ici. (I don't know anyone here.)

ne... aucun(e) (no / not any) - Je n' ai aucun souci avec elle . (I don't have an issue with her.)

ne... ni... ni (neither... nor) - Je ne bois ni thé ni café. (I drink neither tea nor coffee.)

Now this formulation looks like a negation but isn't actually negative - n e... que means 'only' or 'just'.

The important distinction is that ne... que restricts something rather than denying it.

You've probably noticed that in everyday spoken French, people frequently omit the ne and keep only the second part of the negation.

Je ne comprends pas. - Je comprends pas. (I don't understand)

Je n'ai que deux euros. - J'ai que deux euros. (I only have two euros)

Strictly speaking, dropping the ne is considered informal and is generally avoided in formal writing, professional contexts and overall more formal speech.

However, it is completely normal in everyday conversation. If you're chatting with French friends, saying j e sais pas (I don't know) rather than je ne sais pas will sound perfectly natural.

But there are a few situations where ne is particularly important. One example is certain fixed expressions.

And also in formal and written French - even when French people drop ne in conversation, you should generally keep it in writing, particularly in articles, professional emails and official documents.

And sometimes dropping the ne changes the meaning of the sentence entirely. There are situations where you really need to keep it, because its position in a sentence can actually change the meaning.

The sentences look very similar, but they mean different things.

In the first, ne... rien is the negation of peux - you're saying that someone is powerless to do anything about a situation.

In the second, ne... rien belongs to the infinitive faire . You're giving someone permission not to do anything - perhaps telling them they can put their feet up and relax.

In this case, you cannot simply drop ne , because it changes the grammatical structure and potentially the meaning.

Another example is je sais pas , which is easily understood as 'I don't know'. But je veux plus can be ambiguous in writing: it could mean either 'I don't want any more' (with the ne omitted) or 'I want more' (with plus pronounced with its final 's' - pluss ).

In French, ne contracts to n' before a vowel or a silent h to make pronunciation easier.

And the same rule applies as above - if you're speaking informally and dropping the ne , you can also drop the n' .

Je n' ai jamais vu ce film - J'ai jamais vu ce film. (I've never seen that movie).

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