Module 2 of the free French course (CEFR A1, completed), lesson 11 of 30: French negation is a sandwich: ne BEFORE the verb, pas AFTER it. On this page: 7 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 11.
| French | English | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| ne…pas | not (the sandwich) | nuh … PAH |
| je ne parle pas | I do not speak | zhuh nuh pahrl PAH |
| il n'a pas de chat | he does not have a cat | eel nah pah duh SHAH |
| je ne sais pas | I do not know | zhuh nuh seh PAH |
| jamais | never | zhah-MEH |
| ne…jamais | never (the sandwich) | nuh … zhah-MEH |
| toujours | always | too-ZHOOR |
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
French negation is a sandwich: ne BEFORE the verb, pas AFTER it. Je ne parle pas. Il n'a pas de chat.
Ne shrinks to n' before a vowel, and after pas, un/une/des become de: J'ai un chien, but Je n'ai pas de chien.
After ne…pas, un, une and des all become de: j'ai un chien, but je n'ai pas de chien. The article shrinks with the denial.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.
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