Not in French: ne… pas, and when you can drop ne

Not in French takes two words, not one: ne goes before the verb and pas goes after it. This page shows where they sit in each tense, which words can replace pas, why “I have no time” becomes pas de, and when people drop ne. For yes and no on their own, see Yes and no in French. For word order in a whole sentence, see French sentence structure. Negative commands are in the French imperative, and the past tense is in the passé composé.

How do you say not in French?

You say it with ne and pas around the verb. The OQLF says French usually expresses negation with two elements: the adverb ne (n’ before a vowel or a mute h), then a negation word such as pas, jamais, rien or personne [1].

With pas the OQLF calls it total negation: it denies the whole sentence, and ne goes before the verb or auxiliary and pas after it [1]. Its examples: … n’arrive pas à comprendre les logarithmes and … n’a pas voulu nous accompagner [1].

What are the French negations?

Pas is the main one, and a handful of words take its place. The OQLF calls those partial negation: ne with a word such as jamais, rien, personne, plus, guère, nulle part, aucun or nul [1]. Pick the word that matches what you deny.

The meanings come from the UT Austin grammar [4]. The OQLF adds aucun and guère to the list [1]. Examples from the OQLF: Personne n’est venu réclamer ce parapluie, Elle dit qu’elle n’a rien à se reprocher and Il ne mange presque plus [1].

Where does ne… pas go in a sentence?

Around the conjugated verb. The second word usually sits right after that verb and before the object [4]. In the passé composé, ne and pas go around the auxiliary, avoir or être, and the past participle stays after them [3]. With the near future, they go around aller [3].

The infinitive is the odd one out. The Académie française notes that you write n’hésitez pas with the imperative between the two parts, but ne pas hésiter, with both parts placed before the infinitive [6].

Personne and rien work differently when they are the subject: they start the sentence and ne follows, as in Personne n’aime se lever tôt un dimanche and Rien n’est pire [4]. As an object, personne goes after the verb or the preposition it complements: Il ne veut parler à personne [4].

Words can also stack. The UT Austin page shows Je ne te ferai plus jamais le petit-déjeuner and je ne prends jamais rien au petit-déjeuner [4].

How do you say not yet in French?

Say pas encore, with ne before the verb. The OQLF example is Ta sœur, je ne l’ai pas encore vue, where the pronoun l’ sits between ne and the auxiliary [1]. The UT Austin grammar lists ne… pas encore as “not yet” [4]. Hear encore.

Do not mix it up with ne… plus, which means “no longer”: Maintenant, je ne dors plus [4].

What does pas de mean, and when does un become de?

After a negation, the article usually shrinks to de. The OQLF says the indefinite article (un, une, des) and the partitive (du, de la, des) are normally reduced to de, or d’ before a vowel, in front of the direct object after ne… pas, ne… plus and similar [2]. Its examples: Je ne prendrai pas de vacances cet été and Il n’y a pas de farine dans cette recette, not “pas des vacances” or “pas de la farine” [2].

The full article stays in two cases [2]:

• The negation is followed by a contrast: … ne boira pas du vin ce soir, mais de la bière [2].
• The noun is a predicate after être: Je ne suis pas une timide and Ce n’est pas du grésil [2].

With ne… que, which means “only” and is a restriction, not a negation, the article is generally kept: Nous n’avons que des compliments à te faire [2].

When can you drop ne in French?

In casual speech, often. In writing, no. The OQLF says ne tends to disappear in spoken language but remains indispensable in writing [1]. Lawless French gives the informal forms Je sais pas (I don’t know) and Bouge pas ! (Don’t move!) and adds that you can never omit pas [5]. UT Austin agrees that ne is sometimes dropped in speech and gives t’es pas très gentil [3].

The OQLF also lists spots where ne is missing even in writing. Short answers have no ne: Allez-vous souvent au cinéma ? Jamais. and Pourquoi pas ? [1]. Ne can also stand without pas in a construction, ne savoir que plus an infinitive, for example Elle ne savait que répondre [7].

How do you say do not in French?

With an imperative, ne goes before the verb and pas after it. The Académie française shows n’hésitez pas [6]. It adds that an infinitive used as a command takes ne pas before it: ne pas se pencher [6]. The full rules, with pronouns, are in the French imperative.

Common mistakes

• Putting pas after the past participle. In the passé composé the pair wraps the auxiliary: n’a pas été, not “a été pas” [3].
• Splitting ne pas before an infinitive. Keep them together: ne pas hésiter [6].
• Writing pas des or pas du. After ne… pas the article normally becomes de or d’ [2].
• Over-applying pas de. The full article stays after être and in a contrast with mais [2].
• Dropping ne in an email or an essay. It is fine in speech, but the OQLF says ne remains indispensable in writing [1].
• Dropping pas instead of ne. Casual speech drops ne, never pas [5].
• Trusting a grammar page, including this one, without a date check. Compare the official page’s date with ours (3 November 2026).

Sources