Please explain: Il a fait exprès de ne pas rendre la monnaie.
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Matt R.Kwiziq community member
Please explain: Il a fait exprès de ne pas rendre la monnaie.
Why "ne pas", by itself, not around a verb?
This question relates to:French lesson "Faire exprès (de) = To do something on purpose (French Expressions with faire)"
Asked 7 years ago
Ron T. Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Bonsoir Matt,
The link below is for the lesson that covers negation of the infinitif.
Using negations with infinitive verbs in French indirect speech (French Negations)%252Fsearch%253Fs%253Dne%252Bpas%252B%25252B%252Binfinitive
A simple explanation is: in a phrase where there is an infinitif, ne. . pas goes before the infinitif and does not «surround» it if you will. For example:
J'ai pris la décision de ne pas faire un désordre. --> I made the decision to not make a mess. As can be seen, ne pas goes before the infinitif «faire».
However, Je n'ai pas pris la décision de faire un déorder. --> I did not make the decision to make a mess. This is the usual negation form.
As can be seen in comparing the two phrases, the first is to not make a mess while the other indicated that the speaker did not make the decision.
J'espère que cela vous aidera bien.
à bientôt
Ron
Matt R.Kwiziq community member
Good to know, thanks.
Just to let you know, I ran into this question in Section A2 and the page that explains it is tagged B2. So maybe that's why I never saw it? I usually read all the lessons.
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