No. 14 in French
ne
The French word "ne" is a particle used in negation, typically paired with another word like "pas" to mean "not."
In a sentence
Je ne sais pas.
I don't know.
In this sentence, 'ne' is part of the negation construction 'ne...pas,' used to negate the verb 'sais' (know).
Il ne mange jamais.
He never eats.
Here, 'ne' is used with 'jamais' to express negation meaning 'never,' negating the action of eating in the verb 'mange' (eats).
Si je ne me trompe pas, c'est correct.
If I'm not mistaken, that's correct.
In this case, 'ne' is used with 'trompe pas' to negate the reflexive verb 'me trompe,' indicating the condition of not being mistaken.
Hear it in real podcasts
The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “ne” in actual French podcasts.
Find “ne” in podcastsLearn it from shows you like
LangTurbo plays French podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Learning English?
LangTurbo plays real English podcasts with every line translated into français, and tells you what any word means in that sentence. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
French books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).