The negative

Question 1

Where does a negative come in a sentence?

Answer 1

1) ‘Ne’ always precedes the verb and any object pronoun
2) group 1 words, pas, point, plus, guere, jamais, rien come after verb in simple tenses or between auxiliary and past participle in compound tenses.
3) group 2 words, personne, que, aucun(e), nul, nulle part, ni… ni… follow the verb or past participle in compound sentences.

Question 2

What happens if there are multiple negatives in one sentence?

Answer 2

You take out PAS and use this order:

1. plus
2. Aucun, rien, personne (subjects)
3. plus, encore, guère, jamais
4. aucun(e), rien, personne (objects)
5. nulle part, non plus

Question 3

What happens with infinitives and negatives together?

Answer 3

group 1 words, pas, point, plus, guère, jamais, rien, come together in front of infinitive
group 2 words, personne, que, aucun(e)… etc come either side of the verb

Question 4

What does ne… + que mean?

Answer 4

Only (=seulement), que must be placed immediately before the word it applied to