Forming negative commands with reflexive verbs (L'Impératif)

Posted by Aurélie Drouard

In: Level B1, Negative Words & Constructions, Forme négative, Mode impératif, Voix pronominale, Reflexive verbs

Questions: 8

Look at these negative commands (negative imperatives) that use reflexive verbs:

Ne t'assieds pas !  
Don't sit down!

Ne nous asseyons pas ! 
Let's not sit down!

Ne vous asseyez pas ! 
Don't sit down!

Notice that when forbidding (negative orders) using reflexive verbs, you keep the regular order of the words in a negative statement and simply drop the subject pronoun tu/vous/nous.

e.g. Tu ne t'assieds pas -> (X) Ne t'assieds pas!

Look at these other examples:

Ne t'habille pas!
Don't get dressed!

Ne te couche pas !
Don't go to bed!

Ne te lève pas !
Don't get up!

Note that for -er verbs, you lose the -s in the 'tu' form.

 

See also Forming affirmative commands with reflexive verbs (L'Impératif)

See also  Conjugate regular verbs in L'Impératif (imperative) 

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Michael

Kwiziq community member

24 June 2018

4 replies

Saute le 'ne' en parlant?

Est ce qu'on sauterait le 'ne' quand on parle cettes phrases, particuliuèrement quand on parle vite.

Cécile

Kwiziq language super star

26 June 2018

26/06/18

Oui, Michael, in spoken French the 'ne' is often omitted or swallowed up in sloppy speech but the norm.

However, in written Fench it is still required .

Hope this helps!

Michael

Kwiziq community member

26 June 2018

26/06/18

Merci beaucoup Cécile. Et je vois que j'ai fait un erreur dans ma question où j'ai écrit << cettes phrases >> . Ça devrait être <<ces phrases>>, non ?

Cécile

Kwiziq language super star

28 June 2018

28/06/18

Hi Michael,

Yes it would be 'ces phrases' and I would use the verb dire (to say) rather than parler (to speak).

Michael

Kwiziq community member

28 June 2018

28/06/18

Merci encore, Cécile...

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Chris

Kwiziq community member

24 October 2016

2 replies

I think the answer is wrong...

Should the translaten of "Don't go to bed yet" not be "Ne vous couchez pas encore" instead of only "Ne vous couchez pas" ? Methinks the "yet" isn't captured by the second translation. -- Chris.

Chris

Kwiziq community member

24 October 2016

24/10/16

Sorry, my mistake. I just saw that "encore" is a given and mustn't be entered as part of the solution. -- Chris.

Jacqueline

Kwiziq community member

27 February 2018

27/02/18

I thought that the i with a circumflex had been optional since about 1990 in verbs

I wrote ne t'entraine pas without the circumflex

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