Lesson - Section 6: La négation et l'impératif

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Lesson - Section 6: La négation et l'impératif

PART 1: PRESENT TENSE VERBS

Lesson - Section 6: La négation et l'impératif

Hello and welcome to lesson 6 on the negative and the imperative! The negative is exactly what it sounds like - saying that something is not going to happen, that you are not going to do something. The word structure is somewhat different from the English, and here goes:

sujet + ne/n' + verbe + pas + la phrase

n' is used when the word immediately following the ne is begins with a vowel. You must elide ne with the following word if this is the case.

this sentence equivalent in English?

subject + do not + verb + remainder of the sentence.

The négatif surrounds the verb in French, wheras in English it comes before the verb.

Some examples of the usage of the négatif:

Je ne fais pas le Tour de France

I don't do the Tour of France.

Je ne mange pas la pomme.

I don't eat the apple.

Je n'ai pas trouvé le livre.

I didn't find the book.

Elle n'aperçoit pas l'institutrice.

She doesn't see the teacher.

Of course there are additional words that can be inserted between the ne and the pas, but that comes later

L'impératif

The impératif in French is used to give commands and orders, just like it is in English. If you are telling somebody to give me the book, you would say "Give me the book" - and "Donne-moi le livre" or "Donnez-moi le livre" in French, depending on singular (first one or second one if formal) or plural (second one only). In French, the impératif can only be used with you (plural), you (singular formal), we, I, and you (singular informal). That means only vous, nous, je, and tu, unless other grammatical constructions are employed. In French you construct the impératif by simply conjugating the verb and omitting the subject except for tu, which you conjugate with the je conjugation (must memorize this exception). That is very important: To construct the impératif in French for the pronoun tu, for all verb classes, you must conjugate the verb as if you were conjugating for the pronoun je. In the homework questions, this is referred to as the "je rule" (but I just made up that name ) If you wish to order or command somebody to perform a verb on themself, you should add the pronoun toi, vous, or nous after the verb and hyphenate the 2 words together. Here are a few examples:

Répète!

Repeat!

Notice how the tu conjugation would be tu répètes - but, you are using the impératif here, so you must conjugate répéter using the je conjugation despite the fact the tu is the subject. This applies to all three verb classes.

Finissez!

Finish! (directed towards vous)

Regarde-toi!

Look at yourself!

Prends!

Take!

Last thing: if you need to refer to body parts in the imperative, the same thing applies here as with reflexive verbs. In English, you would say "raise your hand", and include the pronoun. In French, it is not correct to say "raise your hand". Instead, you must say "raise the hand"; you do not refer to the body part using a pronoun. In French: "levez la main!" This applies to the negative as well. Again: if you are referring to body parts in the French imperative, you do not use a pronoun. You use la, les, and le instead.

La négation de L'impératif

Now let's mix these 2 topics together! How do you order, command, or suggest to somebody to not do something. As you have seen, there are 2 possibilities: Negating the imperative, and negating the order of doing something to ones' self.

When you want to negate the imperative, you simply add ne/n' in front of the verb, and add pas at the end of the verb. It looks like this:

Ne me dites pas que ce garçon était fou

Don't tell me this boy was crazy!

Ne fumez pas!

Don't smoke!

Ne le prends pas!

Don't take it!

If you need to negate an imperative that has a pronoun, as in "don't look at yourself", the pronoun is moved in front of the verb (it was previously after the verb) and takes a different form. Here are the forms of the pronouns, and the form of the pronoun you must use for the negative versus the form you must use for the positive:

<TABLE BORDER="1" CELLPADDING="3"><TR>
<TD>The personal pronoun</TD><TD>Positive</TD><TD>Negative</TD></TR><TR>
<TD>Je</TD><TD>moi</TD><TD>me</TD></TR><TR>
<TD>Tu</TD><TD>toi</TD><TD>te</TD></TR><TR>
<TD>Nous</TD><TD>nous</TD><TD>nous</TD></TR><TR>
<TD>Vous</TD><TD>Vous</TD><TD>vous</TD></TR></TABLE>

To summarize this table, je takes moi in the positive form of the imperative, but takes me in the negative form of the imperative.

Tu takes toi in the positive form, but takes te in the negative form of the imperative.

The other pronouns stay the same, regardless of positive/negative imperative.

Here are some examples of the negative imperative, that include a pronoun.

Positive: Dépèche-toi!
Negative: Ne te dépèche pas!

Notice how the pronoun changed form and moved in front of the verb.

Positive: Regarde-toi!
Negative: Ne te regarde pas!

Notice how the pronoun changed form and moved in front of the verb.

Positive: Écrivez-vous!
Negative: Ne vous écrivez pas!

Notice how the pronoun moved in front of the verb.

The impératif can also be used with the subjunctive tense, to indicate that you wish somebody does something.

Also, there are 4 very important idiomatic expressions you should know that employ the impératif:

vas-y! This means go ahead, like when you ask somebody for permission to do something, and they reply "go-ahead".

Tiens! When used at the beginning of a sentence, this impératif means Hey!

Allons! + Voyons! Each of these words, when used at the beginning of a sentence, mean Come on!

That's it for this lesson! Now for your homework: Please PM me the answers to the following questions; how would you say the following statements in French.

1. Command me to eat the apple, using the tu conjugation. (with the je rule)
2. Command me to eat the apple, using the vous conjugation.
3. Ask me to have some patience using the tu (with the je rule), using the subjunctive conjugation for avoir:

que j'aie
que tu aies
qu'il/elle ait
que nous ayons
que vous ayez
qu'ils/elles aient

4. Tell us to listen to the song "l'Alizé".
5. Tell me to read my book, using the tu conjugation (caution this is a trick question).
6. Tell us to find the box.
7. Tell a group of people to buy the tickets.
8. Translate the following into French: "Hey, it's already noon!"
9. Translate the following into French: "Come on, hurry up!" (any pronoun is fine).
10. Translate the following into French: "Come on, leave!" using the vous conjugation.
11. Translate the following into French: "Hey, don't take it!" using the tu conjugation. (with the je rule)
12. Translate the following into French: "Come on, let's buy the CD!"
13. Translate the following into French: "Be polite!" Using the subjunctive vous conjugation of être.

que je sois
que tu sois
qu'il/elle soit
que nous soyons
que vous soyez

14. Translate the following into French: "Hey, don't eat too much!" using the tu conjugation (with the je rule)
15. Translate the following into French: "Come on, let's not go to the mall!"