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Using ‘Never’ – Jamais – With Reflexive Verbs
If you never do something, you can use ne…jamais (pronounced: nuh…zhah-may) instead of ne…pas. Do you never get up early? Je ne me réveille jamais tôt. Maybe you never shower in le matin (pronounced: luh mah-tahn), the morning. You would say je ne me lave jamais le matin.
If your friend whos a night owl is thinking about taking an early morning job, you might gently remind that person: Tu ne te couches pas tôt, meaning you dont go to bed early. To describe Carolines habits, you could say Elle ne shabille pas rapidement. If you wanted to explain that you and your friends never wear makeup, you would say nous ne nous maquillons jamais (pronounced: nooh nuh nooh mah-kee-ohn zhah-may). If you needed to explain that your friends dont go to bed late, you would say ils ne se couchent pas tard (pronounced: eel nuh suh koosh pah tahr).
In French, reflexive verbs use two pronouns, the subject and reflexive. For example, je me couche, tu te couches, il se couche or nous nous lavons, vous vous lavez, elles se lavent. To make a reflexive verb negative, add in the word ne between the two pronouns and pas after the verb. For instance: je ne me couche pas, elle ne se réveille pas, elles ne se maquillent pas. To express that someone never does something, use jamais instead of pas.
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Examples Sentences on How to Negate Reflexive Verbs in French
The final section of this lesson on how negate reflexive verbs in French is about seeing the negation in action.
This is valuable because you can improve your understanding on how to negate reflexive verbs in French through examples.
FAQ
How do you make a reflexive verb negative in French?
How do you use negative reflexive verbs?
What are 10 examples of negative sentences in French?
- ça ne fait rien (it doesn’t matter)
- de rien (you’re welcome) and il n’y a pas de quoi (you’re welcome)
- jamais de la vie! (never! out of the question! not on your life!)
- pas du tout (not at all)
- pas encore (not yet)
- pas maintenant (not now)
How do you write a reflexive verb in negative passé composé?
