It is important to notice that verbs in the four following moods, Imperative Mood, Subjunctive Mood, Infinitive Mood, Participle Mood, can only be conjugated in the negative, and never either in the interrogative or in the negative interrogative form. VERBS USED WITH A NEGATIVE. A negative in French is composed of two words, of which the first is always ne: ne pas, not; ne point, not at all; ne plus, no more. The first part of the negation, ne, is placed before the verb, and the second after, in simple tenses. In the passive voice and compound tenses, the second part comes immediately after the auxiliary verb, before the past participle. With the Infinitive Mood, both parts of the negation, ne pas, ne point, ne guère (scarcely, but little), ne jamais (never), ne rien (nothing), are put before the verb. Ne rien dire, to say nothing. Ne pas parler, not to speak. Ne jamais mentir, never to lie. If a personal pronoun, direct or indirect object, is used in the sentence with the verb, it keeps its place immediately before the verb, and the negation is put before the pronoun. Je ne lui parle pas, Commandez-lui de ne pas le punir, Il ne le voit jamais, Il préférerait ne jamais l'avoir vu, I do not speak to him. Order him not to punish him. He never sees him. He would prefer to have never seen him. The auxiliary, do, does, did, which is used with the negative sentence in English, is never expressed in French, as may be seen in the above examples. Observe the place of the negative in The passive voice: Je ne suis pas aimé. The reflexive voice:— pas, point, plus, jamais, . rien, Je ne me présente pas. Je n'ai pas été aimé. Je ne me suis pas présenté. List of Principal Negations used with the French Verbs. In the compound tenses, personne, nul, aucun, nulle part, que, goutte, and ni come after the past participle. Je n'ai vu personne. Je n'ai reçu aucune nouvelle. Je n'y ai vu goutte. Il n'a mérité que des reproches. VERBS USED INTERROGATIVELY WITH A NEGATIVE. In verbs conjugated interrogatively with a negative, the pronoun subject is always placed after the verb, joined to it by a hyphen, and before the second part of the negation. N'aimez-vous pas la lecture? N'aime-t-il pas son père? Are you not fond of reading? PASSIVE VOICE. Every active verb has a passive voice, its direct object becoming the subject, and its subject an indirect object. Le chien mange le gâteau, Ce gâteau a été mangé par le chien, The dog eats the cake. This cake has been eaten by the dog. The passive voice is very seldom used in French. It is replaced by an indefinite pronoun, being subject to the transitive verb, or by a reflexive form. A passive verb is conjugated in adding the past participle to the auxiliary être, through all its changes of number, person, mood, tense, and the past participle agrees always with the subject of the verb. NOTE.There is only one form of conjugation for all the passive verbs. Conjugation of the Passive Verb, être aimé, to be loved. |