Verb drill
French negation with object pronouns: a word-order drill
Practise je ne le vois pas, je ne lui ai pas répondu and je ne vais pas le lire. Ten gaps help you place pronouns, ne and pas around the right verb.
- A2
- 10 answers
- Checked all at once
- Accents count
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In short
Put ne before the object-pronoun group and pas after the conjugated verb: Je ne le vois pas. In a compound tense, pas follows the auxiliary: Je ne lui ai pas répondu. Before an infinitive, keep the object pronoun with the action it belongs to: Je ne vais pas le lire.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
| Frame | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| Present | Je ne la comprends pas. | I do not understand her. |
| Two pronouns | Je ne le lui explique pas. | I am not explaining it to him/her. |
| Compound tense | Je ne lui ai pas répondu. | I have not replied to him/her. |
| Near future | Je ne vais pas lui répondre. | I am not going to reply to him/her. |
| Negative infinitive | Je préfère ne pas lui répondre. | I prefer not to reply to him/her. |
The pronoun keeps its job. La can replace a woman already mentioned; lui replaces the person after répondre à. Negation changes neither reference. With a pair, preserve the internal order: le lui, les leur or me le. Put ne before the whole pair.
Why ne l’ but n’en?
Je ne l’entends pas. Je n’en parle pas. Je n’y pense pas.
I cannot hear him/her. I am not talking about it. I am not thinking about it.
Elision depends on the next word. Before l’, keep ne: its next sound is a consonant. Before en and y, use n’. In je ne l’entends pas, it is the object pronoun that loses its vowel. Write the apostrophe where those two words actually meet.
In a negative command, the pronouns also return before the verb. Compare Dis-le-moi with Ne me le dis pas. For a longer sentence, first find the action that takes the pronoun, then find the conjugated verb or auxiliary that takes pas.
Where does ne go with object pronouns?
Type only the missing group. The first part keeps one pronoun before a present-tense verb. The second adds recipients and auxiliaries. The last part asks you to distinguish a negative plan from a negative infinitive. Each hint gives the meaning or the pronouns to retain.
1 · One pronoun and local elision
- Je . (Je la comprends.)
- Tu . (Tu lui réponds.)
- Nous . (Nous les connaissons.)
- Je . (J’en parle.)
- Elle . (Elle y pense.)
2 · Pairs, auxiliaries and infinitives
- Je . (Je le lui donne.)
- Ne . (dire : me + le)
- Nous . (Nous leur avons répondu.)
- Je ne vais pas . (lire : le)
- Je préfère . (inviter : les, à la forme négative)