ne

«ne» in Mova's school dictionary: the first half of the French way to say «not»: «je ne… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adverb (French «ne», part of «ne … pas» = not); abbreviation (NE = north-east) — not an English word

meaning for a pupil

1) (French) «Ne» is the first half of the French way to say «not»: «je ne sais pas» is «I don't know»; the word goes before the verb and «pas» goes after it. tree →

2) (abbreviation) «NE» means north-east, the direction halfway between north and east, as on a compass or a map. tree →

3) It is not an English word on its own; French «ne» sounds like «nuh». tree →

4) In Russian, «ne» also means «not», and it goes before the verb. tree →

sense in the lessons

In French lessons pupils learn the negative «ne … pas» (not), «ne … jamais» (never), «ne … plus» (no more) and «ne … rien» (nothing). In everyday spoken French people often drop «ne» and just say «je sais pas». In geography lessons «NE» is a compass point: «the wind blew from the NE».

examples

• «Je ne parle pas allemand» means «I don't speak German». tree →
• «Il ne mange jamais de viande» means «he never eats meat». tree →
• In fast French, people often leave out «ne». tree →
• Before a vowel, «ne» becomes «n'»: «je n'aime pas». tree →
• The map showed the town to the NE of the lake. tree →
• A compass has N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W and NW. tree →
• French «ne» sounds like «nuh». tree →

note

As a word, French, not English. «Ne» cannot make a sentence negative alone in written French; it needs a partner such as «pas». Before a vowel it becomes «n'». As a direction write «NE» in capitals or «north-east» in full. Do not confuse with «né(e)» (born), as in «née» for a woman's family name at birth.

In the corpora

• Ne becomes n' before a vowel: je n'aime pas, je n'ai pas; ne and pas go round the verb.
• Ne goes before the verb and pas after it: je n'aime pas, il n'est pas là.
• tak means yes, to anyone; ne tak means «not like that» or «wrong».
• nE-a is a casual nope between kids, and to adults it can sound rude.
• ne znAyu means I don't know, often said with a shrug; ne means not.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «ne» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.