Negatives and yes-no questions in French

WorldPractice
WorldPractice
Level A1

Negatives and yes-no questions in French

A simple French sentence has the same order as English: who, then the verb, then the rest. French has no "do" for negatives and questions: a negative wraps the verb in ne … pas, and a question can be just the same sentence with a rising voice. Answers are shorter than in English, and French has a third answer word, si, for "yes" after a negative question.

The three words: oui, non and ne … pas

Who, verb, the rest: Je bois du café tous les matins — and du where English has nothing

Je bois du café.

Ne before the verb, pas after (n' before a vowel): Je ne mange pas de viande — and pas de, not pas du

Je ne mange pas de viande.

Not with être and avoir: Il n'est pas chez lui, Ce n'est pas loin — and "I'm not hungry" is Je n'ai pas faim, with avoir

Il n'est pas chez lui.

Asking with your voice: Tu bois du café ? to a friend, Vous mangez de la viande ? to a customer

Tu bois du café ?

Est-ce que in front of the sentence: Est-ce que la chambre est calme ?

Est-ce que la chambre est calme ?

Swapping verb and pronoun: Parlez-vous anglais ? — the formal way

Parlez-vous anglais ?

Short answers: Oui or Non plus the facts — no "Yes, I do"

Oui, tous les matins. / Non, jamais.

Answering "Don't you like coffee?": non to agree, si to say the opposite

A negative question wraps the verb in ne … pas like any negative, though in speech the ne often drops: "Tu n'as pas faim ?" (Aren't you hungry?). If you agree that you're not hungry, answer non, as in English: "Non, ça va. Je viens de manger."

To say the opposite, French has a special word: si, never oui. "Tu n'aimes pas le café ?" — "Si ! J'en bois tous les jours." A plain "Oui" here sounds wrong to French ears, so keep si for "yes" after any negative question.

Saying yes and no to offers: Oui, je veux bien — Non, merci

Oui / Non, merci.

Offering a friend a coffee: tu, Ah bon ? and ça te va ?

Practise this lesson

Next lessons