The special rule for negative sentence when it has indefinite article in affirmative.

1. SIVARANJANI R
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
(EFL - FRENCH)
FACULTY OF SCIENCE
AND HUMANITIES
SRM RAMAPURAM
NÉGATIF
L’ARTICLE INDÉFINI

2. Not – ne & pas
 We use the words ‘ne’ and ‘pas’ in the sentence
to tell ‘not’
➡️Steps to follow to form a simple negative sentence
 Find the verb (conjugated) in the sentence
 Add ‘ne’ before the verb and ‘pas’ after the verb

3. For example
 Je vais au cinéma
(I go to the cinema)
Here ‘vais’ (aller) is the verb which is conjugated
 According to the rules, we now transform the sentence
to negative
 Je ne vais pas au cinéma
(I don’t go to the cinema)

4.  Sometimes the conjugated verb starts with a vowel
 In that case, we use n’ instead of ‘ne’
 For example
1. Nous aimons cette garçon.
(We like this boy)
Here the verb aimons starts with a vowel

5.  The negative sentence for this is,
Nous n’aimons pas cette garçon.
(We don’t like this boy)
 So if the verb starts with vowels namely
a,e,i,o,u,y,h, we change ‘ne’ to n’

6. L’ARTICLE DÉFINI (UN, UNE, DES)
 If the affirmative sentence has the indefinite articles un/une/des in French,
it changes to de/d’
 But even in that case, if the sentence is conjugated with verb être then
there are no changes

7.  EXEMPLES
 J’ai des cahiers bleus.
 Je n’ai pas de cahiers bleus.
 Je suis une femme.
 Je ne suis pas une femme.

8. MERCI!