Under the 'Special Cases' section, ne pas sentir or ne sentir pas?
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Terri R.Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Under the 'Special Cases' section, ne pas sentir or ne sentir pas?
Under the 'Special Cases' section, one of the fixed expressions says '-ne pas sentir la rose...', but the examples have the ne ... pas surrounding sentir. Is there a time when it would be 'ne pas sentir ...', or is the expression written that way to show that it is literally 'to not smell'? Thank you for the clarification. Terri
This question relates to:French lesson "Describing senses with "sentir" - The different meanings of the verb "sentir" in French"
Asked 7 years ago
Ron T. Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Bonjour Terri,
The ne pas + the infinitive is mostly seen as a literary structure. Here's an example with explanation:
To negate an infinitive, you put the ne pas directly in front.
To negate anything else, you put the ne...pas around the conjugated verb, either the auxiliary in compound verb tenses or moods like the passé composé, i.e. je n'ai pas mange and surrounding the verb in simple tenses like «Je ne mange pas»
Vous devriez ne pas la connaître = You are negating the infinitive connaître --> to not know
Vous ne devriez pas la connaître = You are negating the conjugated verb devriez --> should not
So the first sentence says that it must be the case that you don't know her, while the second sentence says that it must not be the case that you do know her.
J'espère que cela vous aiderait.
Bonne chance,
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