Elision and "ne ... pas allé."

ian L.C1Kwiziq 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.
Asked 7 years ago
AurélieNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer
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 !
ian L.C1Kwiziq community member
Thanks, Aurelie, The new recording sounds great! I think I'm beginning to get to grips with this now! Ian.
Bill A.C1Kwiziq 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.
Traky D.B2Kwiziq community member

Interested to know what Bill asked as well

CécileNative French expert teacher in Kwiziq

Hi,

 I think Ian meant 'liaison' between pas and allé and not 'elision'.

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.

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