📖LearnModule 7 · Lesson 21 of 30Independent User · CEFR B1, completedUnit 5 · Ne... plus, jamais, rien, personne
Ne... plus, ne... jamais
Module 7 of the free French course (CEFR B1, completed), lesson 21 of 30: French negation is a sandwich: ne before the verb, the second piece after. On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 21.
The words
French
English
Say it
je ne fume plus
I do not smoke any more
zhuh nuh fewm PLEW
il ne vient jamais
he never comes
eel nuh vya(n) zhah-MEH
pas encore
not yet
pah zah(n)-KOR
fumer
to smoke
few-MAY
la négation
the negative
lah nay-gah-SYOH(n)
toujours
still, always
too-ZHOOR
souvent
often
soo-VAH(n)
rarement
rarely
rahr-MAH(n)
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.
Hear the words
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
La règle · The rule
French negation is a sandwich: ne before the verb, the second piece after. Swap pas for another filling and you change the meaning. Ne... plus is no longer: je ne fume plus — I do not smoke any more.
Et aussi · And also
Ne... jamais is never: il ne vient jamais. Ne... pas encore is not yet: elle n'est pas encore arrivée. Same bread, different filling.
Attention · Watch out
ne... plus is no longer, not more: je ne fume plus. plus on its own means more; inside the negative its final s falls silent.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with je ne fume plus.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write two sentences of your own that get the watch-out line right, then the two practice pages of workbook lesson 21 in Module 7 are the written half of this page.
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.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.