Negation in Passé Composé
May 16, 2011 § 4 Comments
There are a bunch of negation terms in French.
The original for negation is here (https://tiffanyendres.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/negation-2/). Review it for terms. This post is how to use them in the passé composé. The main thing is just where to put the ‘ne … pas’ – the order of the words within the sentence. All of the negation terms follow the same word order except for a few exceptions (listed below)
the word order for negation in passé composé
subject ne (avoir or être) pas past participle … rest of sentence
Je n’ai pas vendu mon camion – I didn’t sell my car
Elle n’a rien dit – She didn’t say anything
Ils ne sont pas encore arrivées – They haven’t arrived yet
Je n’ai guère fini mes devoirs avant le commencement de la classe – I barely finished my homework before the start of class
Tu n’as jamais entendu cette chanson – You’ve never heard this song
word order with personne, que, aucun,nulle part, non plus, and plus (de stuff)
Tu n’as vu personne – You didn’t see anyone, you saw no one
Personne n’a parlé – No one spoke
Je n’ai parlé à personne – I didn’t speak to anyone, I spoke to no one
Ils n’ont mangé que le gâteau – They only ate the cake
La robe n’a coûté que $20 – The dress only cost $20
Ils n’ont visité aucun musée – They didn’t visit a single museum
Elle ne l’a vu nulle part – She didn’t see him anywhere
Il n’a plus eu d’argent – He didn’t get any more money
For double negatives
Just plug in the negation terms where they go.
Je n’ai rien dit à personne. – I didn’t say anything to anyone. OR I said nothing to no one.
Personne ne l’a vu nulle part. – No one saw him/her/it anywhere
Je n’ai plus rien demandé à personne. – I didn’t ask anything more of anyone.
For personne and rien as subjects
the word order is personne/rien ne verb rest of sentence
Personne n’a aimé le film – No one liked the movie
Personne n’a rien dit – No one said anything.
Rien d’intéressant n’est arrivé – Nothing interesting happened.
“Je n’ai jamais eu le temps de lire, mais rien, jamais, n’a pu m’empêcher de finir un roman que j’aimais”.
French Notes 
Awesome Thanks Tiffany !
🙂
you have helped me so much! my teacher couldn’t explain it properly but you did! tysm ❤
Thanks so much for this! Holler if you have any other questions!