To make sure that you understand the correct answers, our answer keys offer simple explanations as well as handy tips and tricks. In French, you use word pairs like ne … pas (meaning not) and ne … jamais (meaning never) to say that something is not happening or not true. The sentences that these words are used in are called negative sentences. Our online exercises for French help you to learn and practice grammar rules in an interactive manner. The French adverb has two parts: ne, which precedes the verb, and pas (or another word or phrase, see below), which follows it. Negation – Exercises. Forming Negative Questions. Online exercises to improve your French. French sentences generator (2018 BETA version) This generator outputs random french sentences on demand, with special care to grammar and syntax. 3. For instance, in English you might ask, “Don’t you play the piano?” You can do this with French inversion questions as well, by adding ne or n’ before the verb (use n’ if the verb starts with a vowel) and pas after the subject: N’aimez-vous pas la viande? The normal word order in French and English is subject + verb, as in vous êtes – you are. Its core principle is based on the very method invented long ago by surrealists, "le cadavre exquis" (english for "exquisite corpse"). In English, inversion is used only to ask questions, but in French it has several different purposes. When the verb is inverted, pas follows the subject pronoun.. 2. French Grammar: Passé Composé with Negative and Interrogative Phrases la grammaire française: le passé compose avec les phrases négatives et interrogatives When speaking about the past in English, you choose which past tense to use depending on the context and the meaning you wish to … There are two main differences between French and English negative adverbs: 1. I never do my homework on time. Sometimes questions are posed in the negative. L’inversion. Negation – … I don’t know him. Both languages also have what is known as inversion, where the verb and subject pronoun switch places, resulting in êtes-vous – are you.