Language/French/Grammar/Use-of-indefinite-and-partitive-articles-after-the-negative-forms-ne

Use of Indefinite and Partitive Articles after Negative Forms in French Grammar: ne... pas, ne... jamais, ne... plus, ne... guère

In French grammar, the use of indefinite and partitive articles after negative forms can be confusing for learners. In this lesson, we will explore how to use indefinite and partitive articles after negative forms such as "ne... pas," "ne... jamais," "ne... plus," and "ne... guère."

Ne... Pas

The negative form "ne... pas" is used to indicate the absence or negation of something. When using "ne... pas" in a sentence, indefinite articles are replaced by "de" and partitive articles are replaced by "de." For example:

• Je n'ai pas de livre. (I don't have a book.) - indefinite article replaced by "de"
• Il ne boit pas de café. (He doesn't drink coffee.) - partitive article replaced by "de"

Ne... Jamais

The negative form "ne... jamais" is used to indicate that something has never happened. When using "ne... jamais" in a sentence, indefinite articles are replaced by "de" and partitive articles are replaced by "de." For example:

• Je n'ai jamais de chance. (I never have any luck.) - indefinite article replaced by "de"
• Il ne mange jamais de viande. (He never eats meat.) - partitive article replaced by "de"

Ne... Plus

The negative form "ne... plus" is used to indicate that something no longer happens. When using "ne... plus" in a sentence, indefinite articles are replaced by "de" and partitive articles are replaced by "de." For example:

• Je ne mange plus de sucre. (I don't eat sugar anymore.) - partitive article replaced by "de"
• Il ne voit plus d'amis. (He doesn't see any friends anymore.) - partitive article replaced by "de"

Ne... Guère

The negative form "ne... guère" is used to indicate that something happens very rarely. When using "ne... guère" in a sentence, indefinite articles are replaced by "de" and partitive articles are replaced by "de." For example:

• Je ne vois guère d'intérêt. (I don't see much interest.) - indefinite article replaced by "de"
• Il ne mange guère de légumes. (He doesn't eat many vegetables.) - partitive article replaced by "de"

It's important to note that while indefinite and partitive articles are often replaced by "de" after negative forms, there are some exceptions. For example, if the negative form is "ne... rien" (nothing), then the indefinite article "un/une" (a/an) is replaced by "rien" (nothing) instead of "de."

Conclusion

Understanding how to use indefinite and partitive articles after negative forms is an important part of mastering French grammar. By learning the rules for using "de" instead of indefinite and partitive articles after negative forms such as "ne... pas," "ne... jamais," "ne... plus," and "ne... guère," you can improve your French language skills and communicate more effectively with native speakers.

Table of Contents

Nouns

• Types
• Gender
• Plural

---

Determiners

• Articles
• Typical use of the definite article
• Typical use of the indefinite article
• The partitive article: du, de l', de la, des
• Use of indefinite and partitive articles after the negative forms ne... pas, ne... jamais, ne... plus, ne... guère
• Omission of the article
• Demonstrative determiners
• Possessive determiners

---

Personal and impersonal pronouns

• Subject pronouns
• Object pronouns
• Stressed pronouns
• Demonstrative pronouns
• Possessive pronouns

---

Adjectives

• Adjectives modifying the noun
• Adjectives which follow verbs or verbal expressions
• Adjectives with complements
• Indefinite and negative noun phrases with adjective complements
• Adjectives used as nouns
• Adjectives used as adverbs
• Masculine and feminine forms of adjectives
• Plural forms of adjectives
• Adjective agreement with nouns
• Invariable adjectives
• Compound adjectives
• Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives
• Subjunctive versus indicative in clauses dependent on a superlative adjective
• Absolute use of the superlative

---

Adverbs

• Function of adverbs
• Formation of adverbs with the ending -ment
• Adjectives used as adverbs without addition of -ment
• Phrases used as adverbs
• English and French adverb formation
• Types of adverbs
• Location of adverbs

---

Numbers, measurements, time and quantifiers

• Cardinal numbers
• Ordinal numbers
• Fractions
• Some differences in the use of cardinal and ordinal numbers in French and English
• Measurements and comparisons
• Dates, days, years
• Clock time
• Money
• Quantifiers

---

Verb forms

• Conjugations
• Easy ways of generating some parts of the paradigms
• Changes in the stem form of some -er conjugation verbs
• Verbs whose stems end in c- or g-
• Verb paradigms

---

Verb constructions

• Relations between verbs and their complements
• Intransitive constructions
• Directly transitive verbs
• Indirectly transitive verbs
• Ditransitive verbs
• The passive
• Pronominal verbs
• Impersonal verbs
• Verbs which take noun + adjective or noun + noun complements

---

Verb and participle agreement

• Subject-verb agreement
• Agreement of the past participle with the subject of être
• Agreement of the past participle of verbs conjugated with avoir with a preceding direct object
• Agreement of the past participle of pronominal verbs in compound tenses

---

Tense

• The present
• The past
• The future
• Other tenses indicating the time at which events occur relative to other events
• Combining tenses
• Tenses in direct and reported descriptions of events
• Tenses with si

---

The subjunctive, modal verbs, exclamatives and imperatives

• The attitude of the subject to events: the subjunctive
• The use of devoir, pouvoir, savoir, falloir
• The French equivalents of the English modal verbs: 'would', 'should', 'could', 'may', 'might', 'ought to', and 'must'
• Exclamatives
• Imperatives

---

The infinitive

• Introduction: what are infinitives?
• Infinitives as complements to other verbs
• Verbs which take infinitive complements without a linking preposition
• Verbs which take infinitive complements preceded by the preposition à
• Verbs which take an infinitive complement preceded by de
• Omission of objects before infinitives
• Infinitives as complements to adjectives
• Infinitives as complements to nouns
• Infinitives in subordinate clauses
• Infinitives as polite commands
• Quick-reference index to verbs taking infinitive complements

---

Prepositions

• Introduction
• Prepositions listed alphabetically from à to vers
• French translations for common English prepositions

---

Question formation

• Introduction
• Yes/no questions
• Information questions
• Order of object pronouns in questions involving inversion
• Order of negative particles in questions involving inversion
• Use of question words and phrases: qui?, que?, quoi?, quel?, de qui?, avec combien de? etc.
• Indirect questions

---

Relative clauses

• Introduction
• Use of relative qui
• Use of relative que
• Preposition plus qui
• Use of lequel in relative clauses
• Use of dont, de qui, duquel/de laquelle/desquels/desquelles
• The use of où as a relative pronoun
• Use of relative quoi
• Free relative clauses and the use of ce qui, ce que, ce dont, ce à quoi, ce sur quoi, etc.
• Translating 'whoever', 'whatever', 'wherever', 'whenever', 'however'
• Indicative and subjunctive in relative clauses

---

Negation

• Introduction
• Location of sentence negators
• Order of negators in multiple negation
• Omission of ne in sentence negation
• Order of negative elements in questions and imperatives
• ne... pas
• ne... que
• ne... aucun(e), ne... nul(le)
• ne... jamais
• ne... plus
• ne... guère
• ne... rien
• ne... personne
• ne... ni... ni
• sans used with other negators
• ne used alone

---

Conjunctions and other linking constructions

• Introduction
• Coordinating conjunctions
• Subordinating conjunctions
• Conjunctions sometimes confused by English speakers
• Repeated subordinating conjunctions
• Subordinating conjunctions used with infinitive clauses
• après avoir/ être + past participle linking an infinitive clause to a main clause
• Past participle phrases used as linkers
• Present participles and gerunds

Related Lessons

• Verbs with personal subject used impersonally
• Use of neutral le where no equivalent exists in English
• Masculine and feminine forms of adjectives — A change in written and spoken French
• Grammatical and real gender
• Questions
• Non specific use of y
• Plurals
• Superlative forms of adjectives
• Changes in the stem form of some —er conjugation verbs
• Use of the definite article with parts of the body