Negative Words
Vocabulary
Although there are plenty of activities you like to do, there are also times when you simply are not interested. Therefore, it is important that you learn how to express your wishes, whether they are positive or negative. In this interactivity, you will learn how to say words in the negative form, as well as indicate how often you do something. Click the player to begin.
View a printable version of this interactivity.
Making Verbs Negative
You have already learned how to make verbs negative, but take a moment to review this information. Do you recall the two words required to make verbs negative? If you said ne...pas, then you are correct. The below steps outline specifically how to turn your verbs into a negative form.
- Place ne immediately before the verb; and
- Place pas immediately after the verb.
Take a moment to view the following examples:
Example One:
Positive Sentence:
- French: J'aime le basket.
- English translation: I like basketball.
Negative Sentence: Follow the steps as outlined above, by first placing ne directly before the verb, aime. Then, place pas immediately after the verb.
- Sentence in the negative: Je n'aime pas le basket.
- English translation: I do not like basketball.
Example Two:
Positive Sentence:
- French: J'aime faire du ski.
- English translation: I like to ski.
Negative Sentence: First, place ne directly before the verb, aime. Then, place pas immediately after the verb. Notice that there are two verbs in the sentence, but the ne...pas always goes around the conjugated verb.
- Sentence in the negative: Je n'aime pas faire du ski.
- English translation: I do not like to ski.
Similarly, if you wanted to say, I never like to ski, the sentence would change to, Je n'aime jamais faire du ski.
Negative Words Review
Now that you have learned a little about negative words, review your knowledge in this non-graded activity. Click the player to get started.