Ne ... pas: negation

Spoken French does not pause between words. Inside a phrase, words run together into one stream. Two mechanisms make this happen.

1. Enchaînement (linking a pronounced consonant)

If a word already ends in a pronounced consonant, that consonant slides over to the next word when it starts with a vowel:

• elle arrive /ɛ.la.ʁiv/ (sounds like e-la-rive)
• il est /i.lɛ/
• une idée /y.ni.de/

German does the opposite: it puts a little glottal stop before vowels (ver|eisen, die | Uhr). In French, never do that glottal stop. Think of English an apple said fast: a-napple.

2. Liaison (waking up a silent consonant)

Many final consonants are normally silent: les /le/, vous /vu/, un /œ̃/. Before a vowel or mute h, they come back to life and link to the next word:

Rule of thumb: written s, x, z link as /z/, d links as /t/, n stays /n/.

Required liaison (always do it)

• article or number + noun/adjective: les enfants, des idées, trois ans
• pronoun + verb: nous avons, ils ont, on est
• short adjective before a noun: petit enfant, gros arbre
• after very short words: très important, en Italie, chez eux

Forbidden liaison (never do it)

• after et: un homme et | une femme (the t of et is always silent)
• after a singular noun: un étudiant | anglais
• before h aspiré (an h that acts like a consonant): les | héros, en | haut
• after question words like comment (except comment allez-vous) and quand in questions: quand | est-ce que

Optional liaison

After verbs and longer words: je suis | allé or je suis_allé. Formal speech (news, speeches) uses more liaisons; casual speech fewer. When in doubt, skip the optional ones.

Trap: ils ont /il.zɔ̃/ (they have) vs ils sont /il.sɔ̃/ (they are). The liaison /z/ is the only difference. Listen for it!

The basic frame

French negation wraps around the conjugated verb like a sandwich: ne before, pas after.

• Je ne parle pas allemand. I don't speak German.
• La voiture ne marche pas. The car doesn't work.

Compare: English needs a helper (I do not work), German just adds nicht (Ich arbeite nicht). French needs two words.

Ne becomes n' before a vowel

Like je → j', ne loses its e before a vowel or mute h:

• Je n'aime pas le café. I don't like coffee.
• Il n'est pas là. He isn't here.
• Ce n'est pas loin. It's not far.
• Elle n'habite pas ici. She doesn't live here.

Where do pronouns go?

Object pronouns and reflexive pronouns stay glued to the verb, inside the sandwich:

• Je ne le sais pas. I don't know (it).
• Je ne me souviens pas. I don't remember.
• Il n'y a pas de problème. There is no problem.

With verb + infinitive, the negation wraps the first (conjugated) verb:

• Je ne peux pas venir. I can't come.
• On ne doit pas oublier. We mustn't forget.

un / une / des → de (d') after negation

This is the big one. After a negative, the indefinite article (un, une, des) and the partitive (du, de la, de l') all collapse into de (or d' before a vowel). It means no / not any, like German kein:

Exception 1: with être, nothing changes: C'est un musée. → Ce n'est pas un musée.

Exception 2: definite articles (le, la, les) never change: Je n'aime pas le matin.

Answering: non, si

• Non answers a positive question: Tu travailles ? Non, je ne travaille pas.
• Si contradicts a negative question, like German doch: Tu ne travailles pas ? Si, je travaille !

Spoken French drops ne

In everyday speech, French people very often drop ne and keep only pas. Pas carries the meaning:

• Je sais pas. (often chais pas) I dunno.
• C'est pas grave. No big deal.
• Il y a pas de problème. No problem.

You will hear this constantly, but write the full ne ... pas in emails, work texts and anything formal. In reading (news, business), ne is always there.

Quick contrast: pas vs non

• pas negates a verb: Je ne viens pas.
• non is the standalone no: Non, merci.
• pas + word without a verb: Pas moi ! (Not me!), Pas encore. (Not yet.), Pas loin. (Not far.)

Pattern 1: -ment = English -ly

French -ment turns an adjective into an adverb, exactly like English -ly (German just uses the bare adjective: schnell). The rule: take the feminine form of the adjective and add -ment:

• rapide → rapidement
• normal → normale → normalement
• final → finale → finalement
• officiel → officielle → officiellement

If the masculine already ends in a vowel, add -ment to it directly: vrai → vraiment, absolu → absolument.

Pattern 2: -ment = English -ment (nouns)

Many nouns in -ment are masculine and identical to English: le gouvernement, le moment, le document.

Traps

• -amment / -emment: adjectives in -ant / -ent become -amment / -emment (both pronounced /amɑ̃/): constant → constamment, évident → évidemment, récent → récemment.
• actuellement = currently (German aktuell), not actually! Actually = en fait.
• éventuellement = possibly, if need be, not eventually (= finalement).
• un argument is a reason / point you make, not a quarrel (= une dispute).
• le médicament is any medicine, not only drugs in the illegal sense.
• le département in France is mostly an administrative region (like a German Landkreis, but bigger).