Negation: ne … pas
Summary
Standard negation wraps the conjugated verb in two parts, ne … pas — ne before it and pas after it — and turns indefinite/partitive articles on the object into de.
Explanation
French negation is normally built from two pieces that surround the verb: ne goes before the conjugated verb and pas goes after it. So the affirmative je comprends (I understand) becomes the negative je ne comprends pas (I don't understand). Unlike English, there is no auxiliary 'do'; the two negative words simply hug the verb that is already there.
Ne shortens to n' before a word beginning with a vowel or a silent h: je n'aime pas, il n'habite pas ici. This elision is obligatory in writing. In compound tenses such as the passé composé, the conjugated verb is the auxiliary (avoir or être), so ne … pas wraps the auxiliary and the past participle stays outside: je n'ai pas compris, elle n'est pas venue — never « je n'ai compris pas ».
Object pronouns belong inside the ne … pas frame, immediately before the verb (or auxiliary): je ne le sais pas, je ne lui ai pas parlé. With an infinitive that is itself negated, both ne and pas usually come together before the infinitive: il m'a demandé de ne pas partir (he asked me not to leave). This 'ne pas + infinitive' block is the normal pattern for negating an infinitive.
Negation also changes the article on a direct object. After a negative verb, the indefinite articles un/une/des and the partitive articles du/de la/de l'/des all reduce to de (or d'): j'ai une voiture → je n'ai pas de voiture; je mange du pain → je ne mange pas de pain. The definite article (le/la/les) does not change, and the verb être is an exception that keeps the original article: ce n'est pas un problème, ce n'est pas du café.
A practical rule of thumb: find the conjugated verb, place ne (n') just before it and pas just after it, keep any object pronouns between ne and the verb, and then check the object's article — if it was un/une/des/du/de la, switch it to de unless the verb is être. In everyday spoken French the ne is very often dropped (je sais pas, j'ai pas faim), but it should be kept in writing and in careful or formal speech.
Examples
Je ne parle pas espagnol. — I don't speak Spanish. (ne before the verb parle, pas after it.)
Il n'habite pas ici. — He doesn't live here. (ne becomes n' before the vowel of habite.)
Elle n'a pas mangé ce matin. — She didn't eat this morning. (In the passé composé, ne … pas surrounds the auxiliary 'a'.)
Je ne le sais pas. — I don't know it. (The object pronoun le stays inside ne … pas, before the verb.)
Nous n'avons pas de voiture. — We don't have a car. (After the negation, the indefinite article une becomes de.)
Il m'a demandé de ne pas partir. — He asked me not to leave. (To negate an infinitive, ne pas come together before it.)
Common mistakes
J'ai ne pas mangé.
Je n'ai pas mangé.
In compound tenses like the passé composé, ne … pas must wrap the conjugated auxiliary (avoir or être), not the past participle. So it is « je n'ai pas mangé », with ne before ai and pas after it; the participle mangé stays at the end. Putting ne after the subject or wrapping pas around the participle (« j'ai mangé pas ») is wrong. Remember: ne and pas hug the conjugated verb, which in a compound tense is the auxiliary.
Prerequisites
Related rules
negationword-orderarticles