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

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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