English negates with one word: not. French uses a sandwich: ne goes before the conjugated verb, pas goes after it, and the verb sits in the middle.
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Je ne parle pas italien. | zhuh nuh parl pah ee-tah-lee-EN | I don't speak Italian. |
| Il n'est pas là. | eel nay pah LAH | He isn't here. |
| Nous ne comprenons pas. | noo nuh kohn-pruh-NOHN pah | We don't understand. |
| Ce n'est pas grave. | suh nay pah GRAHV | It's not a big deal. |
English inserts a helper verb: "I do not speak". French does nothing of the kind — the sandwich wraps the verb you already have. There is no French word for that "do", and hunting for one is what makes learners stall mid-sentence.
Swap pas for another word and you get a different negative. The ne never moves.
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ne... pas | nuh... pah | not |
| ne... jamais | nuh... zhah-MAY | never |
| ne... plus | nuh... PLÜ | no longer, not any more |
| ne... rien | nuh... ree-EN | nothing |
| ne... personne | nuh... pair-SON | nobody |
| ne... pas encore | nuh... pah ahn-KOR | not yet |
| ne... que | nuh... kuh | only (a restriction, not a negation) |
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Je ne fume jamais. | zhuh nuh füm zhah-MAY | I never smoke. |
| Il n'y a plus de pain. | eel nee ah plü duh PAN | There's no more bread. |
| Je ne comprends rien. | zhuh nuh kohn-PRAHN ree-EN | I don't understand anything. |
| Il n'y a personne ici. | eel nee ah pair-SON ee-SEE | There's nobody here. |
| Je n'ai que dix euros. | zhuh nay kuh dee-zuh-ROH | I only have ten euros. |
After a negative, un / une / du / de la / des all collapse to plain de: J'ai une voiture → Je n'ai pas de voiture. The only exception is after être: Ce n'est pas un problème.
When the negative applies to an infinitive, both pieces go in front of it, side by side: Il m'a dit de ne pas venir. (He told me not to come.) C'est important de ne pas oublier.
Spoken French routinely drops ne entirely: Je sais pas, C'est pas grave, J'ai pas faim, Y a personne. This is not sloppy — it is how nearly everyone speaks. Keep the ne in writing, in exams and in formal settings; let it go when you want to sound natural.
French gives you three registers for the same question. Choosing among them is mostly about formality.
| Method | Register | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Intonation — say the statement, raise your voice | casual, spoken | Tu viens ? |
| Est-ce que — glue it to the front | neutral, safe everywhere | Est-ce que tu viens ? |
| Inversion — flip verb and pronoun | formal, written | Viens-tu ? |
It works with every verb and every question word, needs no hyphens, and is never too formal or too casual. Est-ce que is the workhorse — inversion is the suit and tie you put on for writing and polite service encounters.
The pronoun hops behind the verb with a hyphen: Parlez-vous anglais ?, Avez-vous l'heure ?. If the verb ends in a vowel and the pronoun is il / elle / on, a -t- slips in to keep the sounds apart: A-t-il fini ?, Parle-t-elle français ?, Va-t-on manger ?
Parle-je ? is not French. With je, use est-ce que: Est-ce que je peux...? The only survivors are a few fixed forms: Puis-je ? (May I?), Suis-je ?, Ai-je ?.
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| qui | kee | who |
| que / quoi | kuh / kwah | what |
| où | oo | where |
| quand | kahn | when |
| pourquoi | poor-KWAH | why |
| comment | ko-MAHN | how |
| combien (de) | kohn-bee-EN | how much / how many |
| quel / quelle / quels / quelles | kel | which, what (agrees with its noun) |
Each question word can ride with any of the three methods:
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Tu habites où ? (casual) | tü ah-BEET oo | Where do you live? |
| Où est-ce que tu habites ? (neutral) | oo ess kuh tü ah-BEET | Where do you live? |
| Où habitez-vous ? (formal) | oo ah-bee-tay-VOO | Where do you live? |
| Combien ça coûte ? | kohn-bee-EN sah KOOT | How much does it cost? |
| Quelle heure est-il ? | kel UHR ay-TEEL | What time is it? |
| Pourquoi pas ? | poor-kwah PAH | Why not? |
| Form | Where it sits | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Qu'est-ce que | front of the sentence — the safe default | Qu'est-ce que tu fais ? |
| Que + inversion | front, formal | Que faites-vous ? |
| Quoi | end of the sentence, or after a preposition | Tu fais quoi ? · De quoi parles-tu ? |
Use quel when "what" is attached to a noun: Quel âge as-tu ?, Quelle est votre adresse ?, Quels sont vos horaires ? Use qu'est-ce que when "what" is the object of a verb: Qu'est-ce que tu veux ? Asking Qu'est-ce que ton nom ? instead of Quel est ton nom ? is a giveaway.
French has a third answer word. When someone asks a negative question and you want to contradict it, you don't say oui — you say si.
— Tu n'aimes pas le fromage ? — Si ! J'adore ça. ("You don't like cheese?" "Yes I do!")
Dropping ne is near-universal in casual speech. Inversion survives in service encounters (Puis-je vous aider ?) and in writing. Young speakers often question by simply raising pitch: T'as compris ?
Québec has an extra yes/no marker: the particle -tu clipped onto the verb. Tu viens-tu ? (Are you coming?), C'est-tu loin ? (Is it far?), On y va-tu ? It works with every subject, so Il aime-tu ça ? is perfectly normal — and no, the person isn't being addressed as "tu".
Add the missing half of the negative sandwich.
1. "I don't have any money" is:
2. Which question is the safest in any situation?
3. Someone asks Tu n'as pas faim ? and you ARE hungry. You answer:
4. Why is A-t-il fini ? spelled with -t-?