Negative Expressions (besides ne…pas)

Negative expressions
There are many opposites associated with negative expressions as well.

quelqu’un                 ne…personne

quelque chose          ne…rien

toujours                  ne…jamais 

encore                    ne…plus

1.

You first learned to make sentences negative using ne… pas
Chapter 3 introduced the negative expression ne… ni… ni (eg. “Elle n’est ni grande ni petite)

You have also encountered ne… jamais (never)

2. There are several other ways of making sentences or phrases negative- look at these new negative expressions:

ne… pas encore

not yet

ne… plus

no longer

ne… personne

no one

ne… rien

nothing


Important notes on usage

 

The negative pronouns rien (nothing) and personne (nobody) come before ne and the verb when used as subjects.

Personne n’a téléphoné hier soir. (No one called last night).

Rien n’est facile. (Nothing is easy).

In the past tense (passé composé)the negative expressions go before the past participle. With the exception of personne, which goes after the whole verb phrase.

Je n’ai rien fait au zoo.

Je n’ai vu personne au zoo.

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