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Basic negation is formed by placing ne ... pas around the conjugated verb.
Ne becomes n' in front of a verb starting with a vowel or a mute h.
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| Tex: Tu ne vas pas en cours aujourd'hui, Tammy? |
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Tex: You're not going to class today Tammy? |
| Tammy: Non. Je ne vais pas bien. Je ne peux pas manger et j'ai mal à la tête. |
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Tammy: No. I am not well. I cannot eat and I have a headache. |
| Tex: Tu n'as pas de chance! Ce soir, il y a une fête chez Edouard! |
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Tex: That's too bad [literally 'you are not lucky']! Tonight there is a party at Edouard's! |
| Tammy: Tu n'es pas d'un grand réconfort, tu sais! |
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Tammy: You are not a lot of comfort, you know! |
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In compound tenses, like the passé composé, the ne ... pas are also placed around the conjugated verb,
which is the auxiliary, avoir or être. In the periphrastic future,
ne ... pas goes around the verb aller.
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| Tex n'a pas été très gentil. |
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Tex was not very nice. |
| Tammy ne va pas passer la soirée chez Edouard. |
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Tammy is not going to spend the evening at Edouard's. |
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Note that in spoken French, the ne / n' is sometimes dropped.
In familiar speech, tu is often pronounced as t' before a vowel.
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| Tammy: Tex, t'es (tu es) pas très gentil. |
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Tammy: Tex, you are not very nice. |
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