French Notes

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 eu plus 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 arrive – 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”.

The one thing about vandertramp verbs is that one does them with one’s entire body.  One arrives, one leaves, one passes, one is born, one dies, one falls, one goes, one enters, etc.  with one’s entire body.  That’s the beauty of the vandertramp verbs – there’s a sense of logic to them.

BUT … what happens to the verbs that mean two things? 

Sortir means to go out AND to get something out

Rentrer means to go in, to return home AND to put in or to get in

Descendre means to go down, to descend AND to get something down

Passer means to pass by something AND to pass something

Monter means to go up, to climb AND to put something up

When one is doing the first meaning of the verb (the whole body meaning), one uses the être construction in the passé composé.  When one is doing the second meaning of the verb (where you’re doing the action to something else), one uses the avoir construction in  the passé composé.

Examples

     Elle est montée dans l’ascenseur – She went up in the elevator

     Elle a monté ses bagages – She picked up, put up her bags

     Elle est sortie de l’hôtel – She left from the hotel

     Elle a sorti sa valise du compartiment – She took out her suitcase from the compartment

      Elle est descendue du train  – She got down, she descended from the train

     Elle a descendu son sac à dos – She got down her backpack

     Nous sommes rentrés à la maison – We came back home

     Nous avons rentré la voiture au garage – We put the car in the garage