Elision and "ne ... pas allé."
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ian L.Kwiziq community member
Elision and "ne ... pas allé."
The spoken example of "Je ne suis pas allé au cinéma." has no hint of elision between 'pas' and 'allé'. I am always baffled by where things get elided and where they are not. Are there any rules about this? Where should I look?
Merci beaucoup, Ian L.
This question relates to:French lesson "Ne ... pas = Not - with compound tenses (French Negations)"
Asked 7 years ago
Bonjour Ian !
In such cases, there are two ways to pronounce them in French:
- either you do the liaison with "-s", linking the two "a"s with a [z] sound
- or omit the liaison (quite common in speech nowadays), which is the case here, and you pronounce the two "a"s next to each other. As a native French speaker, I do hear her pronounce both "a"s, but I completely understand that it's tenuous enough to be missed by less fluent ears :)
I decided to re-record this example, and mark the liaison to make it clearer.
I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !
In such cases, there are two ways to pronounce them in French:
- either you do the liaison with "-s", linking the two "a"s with a [z] sound
- or omit the liaison (quite common in speech nowadays), which is the case here, and you pronounce the two "a"s next to each other. As a native French speaker, I do hear her pronounce both "a"s, but I completely understand that it's tenuous enough to be missed by less fluent ears :)
I decided to re-record this example, and mark the liaison to make it clearer.
I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !
ian L.Kwiziq community member
Thanks, Aurelie,
The new recording sounds great! I think I'm beginning to get to grips with this now!
Ian.
Bill A.Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Just would like to clarify when it comes to ellision with "pas" - it is completely optional? Seems i hear more without elision than with. Thanks very much.
CécileNative French expert teacher in Kwiziq
Hi,
I think Ian meant 'liaison' between pas and allé and not 'elision'.
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