LESSON XIX

Negation with verb. — Negation without verb. — Difference between penser à and penser de. — Irregular verbs vivre, suffire, naître, s'asseoir

71. Negation with verb. — When used in conjunction with a verb, the negative regularly consists of two particles, of which the ne precedes the verb (in compound tenses, the auxiliary) and object pronouns if any. The following are the most commonly employed negative expressions :

ne . . . pas, not ne . . . que, only

ne . . . point, not (emphatic) ne . . . aucun, no, none

ne . . . jamais, never ne . . . personne, nobody

ne . . . plus, no longer, no more ne . . . rien, nothing 1

ne ... ni ... ni, neither . . . nor

Elle n'entendait que Jean. She heard only John.

Ne me le donnez pas. Don't give it to me.

Elle ne sait ni jouer ni chanter. She can neither play nor sing.

Je ne lui en parlerai jamais. / shall never speak to him about it.

Pourquoi n'en veut-elle pas? Why doesn't she want any?

Note 1. However, notice that pas, point, jamais, and plus likewise precede the infinitive and object pronouns in the following constructions :

Il pense à ne pas y aller. He is thinking of not going there.

Elle parle de ne plus le voir. She speaks of seeing him no more.

Il m'a dit de ne jamais le faire. He told me never to do it.

1 For nothing + adjective, rien de bon, rien de mauvais, and quelque chose de bon, quelque chose de mauvais, see Section 42, a, note 1.

Note 2. Ne . . . rien, nothing, and ne . . . personne, nobody, are very often used as subjects. In this case, the rien or personne are placed first, i.e., their position is that of the ordinary noun.

Personne n'était à l'école. Nobody was at school.

Rien ne m'est arrivé. Nothing happened to me.

72. Negation without verb. — When the verb is not expressed, negation is generally indicated by the use of non.1 This form is very often emphasized by adding either pas or point.

Lui avez-vous parlé? Non. Have you spoken to him? No.

Vous viendrez, n'est-ce pas? Non You will come, will you not? pas. Certainly not.

Note. In the case of ne . . . jamais, ne . . . personne, ne . . . rien, ne . . . aucun, the ne is often omitted and the other part becomes negative by itself.

Qui frappé à la porte? Personne. Who is knocking at the door. Nobody.

Qu'as tu donné à Jean? Rien. What did you give to John? Noth-

ing.