ne...jamais = never, not ever
a few more you may not have:
ne...pas du tout = not at all
ne...point - not, not at all
ne...guère = hardly, scarcely
n...ni...ni = neither...nor
ne...aucun (aucune) = no, none
ne...nul (nulle) = no, none
a. In simple tenses, ne precedes the verb and pronoun objects; the 2nd part of the negative follows the verb (or the subject pronoun in interrogative word order).
Son coeur ne battait plus. = His heart was no longer beating.
Nous ne les admirons pas du tout. = We don't admire them at all.
Ne vous faut-il qu'une heure? = Do you need only an hour?
b. In compound tenses, the 2nd part of most negatives precedes the past participle.
Je n'aurais point passé mon temps à dormir = would not have spent my time sleeping.
Pourquoi Charles n'a-t-il guère étudié? = Why has Charles scarcely studied?
Malgré sa joie, elle n'avait rien dit. = In spite of her joy, she had said nothing.
c. (1) Personne follows the past participle.
Elle n'a jamais trompé personne. = She has never deceived anyone.
Ils n'en ont parlé à personne. = They spoke to no one about it.
(2) Que precedes the word or words stressed, as does the word "only" in English.
Il n'a acheté que des petits pains = He bought only rolls.
Elle ne m'avait télephoné que deux fois. = She had telephoned me only twice.
(3) Each part of ni...ni precedes the word or words stressed.
L'eau n'était ni chaude ni froide. = The water was neither hot nor cold.
Je n'ai ni vu le film ni lu le roman. = I've neither seen the film nor read the novel.
(4) Aucun and nul precede the nouns they modify.
Cela ne posera aucun problème. = That will pose no problem.
Nul homme ne sait le faire. = No one can do it.
Il ne pouvait le trouver nulle part. = He couldn't find it anywhere.
(5) Both parts of the negative generally precede the infinitive.
Il s'était arrêté pour ne pas tomber. = He had stopped in order not to fall.
Il vaut miwux ne rien dire. = It is better to say nothing.
d. Rien and personne may be used as subjects of the verb. Ne remains in its usual place, before the verb.
Rien n'est arrivé . = Nothing happened
Personne ne savait prononcer le mot. = No one knew how to pronounce the word.
e. Ne is used only with a verb, but the 2nd part of a negative may be used alone, without a verb.
Ils n'y sont pas restés. Pourquoi pas? = They didn't stay. Why not?
Qu'a-t-elle répondu? Rien du tout. = What did she answer? Nothing at all.
Plus d'argent = No more money.
Qui mérite e prix? Ni lui ni elle. = Who deserves the prize? Neither he nor she.
f. Jamais with a verb and ne means never. Jamais used without a verb also means never.
Non, je ne l'ai jamais traversée. Jamais? = No I have never crossed it. Never?
g. Ne is sometimes used without pas with the verbs cesser, oser, pouvoir, and savoir. In this case, the verb is generally followed by an infinitive.
Elles ne cessent de bavarder. = They don't stop chattering.
Nous n'osons le lui dire. = We don't dare tell him.
Je ne puis vous comprendre. = I cannot understand you.
Il ne sait que faire. = He doesn't know what to do.
NOTE:
1. The negataive ne...point, although stronger than ne...pas, is comparatively infrequent.
2. Ne...nul is generall rstricted to literary writing.
3. Si (yes), is used to contradict a negatiave statement or question.
Vous 'avez pas fini le travail. Si, je l'ai fini. = Yu haaven't finis hed the work. Yes, (to the contrar), I have.
Ne joue-t-elle pas du piano? Mais si! = Doesn't she play te piano? Why, yees!
4. The pronoun personne is masculine; the noun personne is feminine.
Personne n'est ven u. = No one came.
Une seule personne est venue. = Only one person came.
5. The netative expression ni...non plus (nor...either, neither) may be used with a noun or disjunctive pronoun.
Jacques ne fume pas. Ni Raoul non plus. = James doesn't smoke. Neither does Ralph.
Elle n'a pas faim. Ni moi non plus. = She isn't hungry. Neither am I.
See all the things to learn about the negatives? Study these very well and then when you are ready, ask for exercises.
Sra (aka Mme)
I have a bit of information on Negative articles in french and stuff.
Like I know there is Ne+ Pas
Ne...Plus
Ne...Rien
Ne...Jamais
Ne...Que
Ne....Personne
Ne Pas means: not, don't etc--a lot for this
Ne plus means: not anymore, no more
Ne Rien means: Nothing, anything
Ne Jamais means: Never, ever
Ne Que means: Only(seulement)
Ne Personne means: no one, anyone
--What I don't understand is the never, ever thing, like how do those 2 definitions match? They are like opposite of eachother, its confusing.
Could I please receive some more information?
Also could you please give me some examples with answers that I can follow and study through?
For ex. They don't want to study anything....
= Ils ne veulent rien etudier
She never answers anybody....
= Elle ne repond jamais personne.
And say that a sentence had quelque chose in it.... you would erase quelque chose and add rien in place right? Not just rien, I mean any negative? That also confuses me.
1 answer
1 answer