The verb of a sentence says what action is taking place. The French verbs we’ve discussed so far are “être” and “avoir.” Take a look at these sample sentences that show the difference between a sentence in the affirmative (positive) and the negative.

Affirmative: Je suis nerveux pour le match.             I am nervous about the game.

Negative: Je ne suis pas nerveux pour le match.       I am not nervous about the game.

Affirmative: J’ai faim ce matin.                                I am hungry this morning.

Negative: Je n’ai pas faim ce matin.                          I am not hungry this morning.

To make a sentence negative, “ne” and “pas” must sandwich the verb. This means that the verb goes in between the “ne” and the “pas.”

Note:

• If you are making a sentence negative and the “ne” precedes a verb that begins with a vowel, connect the two with an apostrophe (n’…) as shown in the second example above.
• Similarly, if the “pas” precedes a word in the rest of the sentence that begins with a vowel, connect the –s, or /z/ sound with the pronunciation of the following word.