Particle of negation in French

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The negation particle is used in the French language to express a negation . This is possible with several different words that are syntactically at the position of a particle directly after the conjugated verb and, in written language, together with the universal negation particle ne, include the conjugated verb and any object pronoun, e.g. B. "Je ne suis jamais venu ici." - "I never came here."

Negations can be expressed by the following negation particles:

no ... pas - not
«Il ne travaille pas» - "He doesn't work"
ne ... plus - no more
"Vous ne faites plus les devoirs" - "You no longer do your homework"
ne ... pas non plus - not either
«Elle ne travaille pas non plus» - "She doesn't work either"
ne ... point - nothing / not
«Nous n'en avons point» - "We have none of it"
ne ... guère - little, hardly
«Elle n'est guère jolie» - "She is not exactly beautiful"
ne ... nulle part - nowhere
ne ... pas encore - not yet
  « elle ne travaille Paß non plus  »- sie arbeitet auch nicht mehr.

Pas and plus can be reinforced by you tout ("at all / not at all" or "at all / not at all"), you can tout after pas or after the participe passé:

"Elle n'est pas you tout sortie" or "Elle n'est pas you tout sortie" - "She never went out."

In connection with an infinitif présent or infinitif passé, the negative is closed in front of the infinitive if the object is not a pronoun, but can also enclose the conjugated verb in the infinitif présent:

"Pierre ne sait pas parler" - "Pierre cannot speak"
«J'espère ne pas entender de telles paroles» - “I hope not to hear such words”
"J'espère ne pas avoir inquiété Jean" - "I hope I haven't worried Jean"

If the object is a pronoun, the negative is closed before the pronoun:

"J'espère ne pas vous inquiéter" - "I hope not to worry you"
"J'espère ne pas vous avoir inquiété" - "I hope I have not worried you"

The infinitive of the auxiliary verbs être and avoir can either be enclosed by the negative particles or, especially in sophisticated language, come before the infinitive:

"Je crains de n 'avoir pas compris" or "Je crains de ne pas avoir compris" - "I'm afraid I have not understood"

Nouns without an article must be followed by de after the negative:

"Je n'ai pas d'argent" - "I have no money"
«Il ne dit pas un mot» - "He doesn't say a word"

Without a verb pas stands alone without ne :

"Un homme pas courageux" - "A not very brave man"

Likewise before mien, tien, ... and moi, toi ... , with the latter, pas is also added:

"C'est votre désir?" - "Pas le mien"
"Qui a cassé le verre?" - "Pas moi" or "Moi pas"

It is also followed up with interrogative pronouns:

"Pourquoi pas?" - "Why not?"

Similarly with non , e.g. B. in response to a question:

"Je pense que non" - "I don't think so"
ne ... jamais - never
"Je n'ai jamais vu cette maison" - "I've never seen this house"

Jamais without ne has positive meaning ("ever"):

"Je doute de pouvoir jamais le convaincre" - "I doubt whether I can ever convince him"
ne ... rien - nothing
«Je ne dirai rien» - "I won't say anything"

Without ne , rien also has a positive meaning ("something"):

"Il est incapable de rien dire" - "He is unable to say anything"
ne ... personne - nobody
«Elle ne voit personne» - "She doesn't see anyone"
ne ... aucun (e) - none
«Il n'avait aucune idée» - "He had no idea"

Without ne , personne and aucun (e) stand for "someone":

«Elle doute que personne le reconnaisse» - "She doubts that anyone will recognize him"

ne ... rien / personne / aucune (e) can also be used as a subject:

"Personne ne lui écrit" - "Nobody writes to him"
"Aucun de ses amis ne lui téléphone" - "None of his friends calls him"
ne ... que - only, first (in connection with time information)
«Je n'ai qu'une clé» - "I only have one key"
«Il n'est que 6 heures» - "It's only 6 o'clock"

Seulement can be used instead of ne ... que , even in sentences without a verb.

"Je ne peux rester que deux heures" - "I can only stay two hours"
«Seulement trois heures» - "Only three hours"
ne ... ni ... ni, ni ... ni ... ne, ne ... pas non plus, ne ... pas ... ni - "neither ... nor"

Linguistic development

From a linguistic perspective, the negation particles actually have a positive meaning:

  • pas means 'step'
  • jamais 'ever, always'
  • rien is rooted in the Latin res 'thing'
  • plus 'more'
  • guère , with the outdated meaning 'very, much', borrowed from old Lower Franconian and related to ahd. uueigiro 'refusing, proud' and mhd. inevitably 'little, hardly'
  • Today mie means 'soft inside of the loaf' but earlier 'crumb', from Latin micam
  • goutte 'drop' from Latin gutta , old-fashioned used to reinforce the negation (e.g. with: Ne voir goutte , n'y voir goutte 'not see clearly'; also found in the figurative sense with: N'y comprendre goutte )

So the negation was originally expressed by combining it with ne . This can be compared in German with constructions such as “We have not advanced an inch”. In modern, especially colloquial French, however, the perception of this positive meaning has receded; at the same time, ne is on the decline (e.g. in the film title C'est pas moi… c'est l'autre! ). In French Creole languages, the ne is omitted and the pas is placed in front of the verb (for example: Moi pas veux manger or m'pa vle mangé ).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Frank Heidermanns, Etymological Dictionary of Germanic Primary Adjectives

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