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Year 7

What isn't done: negation before a noun with 'avoir', 'être', 'faire'

I can use negation with 'ne … pas' before nouns with a variety of present tense verbs to say what I don’t have, don’t do and am not.

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New
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Year 7

What isn't done: negation before a noun with 'avoir', 'être', 'faire'

I can use negation with 'ne … pas' before nouns with a variety of present tense verbs to say what I don’t have, don’t do and am not.

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. To say you don’t have something, use ‘ne … pas’ around the verb ‘avoir’ and change indefinite articles to de/d.
  2. Other verbs such as ‘faire’ work in the same way as 'avoir'.
  3. ‘Être’ is an exception, use the indefinite article after ‘être’ to give more information about the subject.
  4. To say you don’t have ‘the’ noun, the definite article stays the same.

Keywords

  • Definite article - the words le, la, les and l’ meaning the

  • Indefinite article - the words un and une, meaning a/an

  • Negation - two elements e.g. ne … pas around the main verb expressing negative meaning

Common misconception

When negating, change any articles to 'de/d''.

Change indefinite articles to 'de/d'' when negating but keep the definite articles the same and keep the indefinite articles when using être.


To help you plan your year 7 french lesson on: What isn't done: negation before a noun with 'avoir', 'être', 'faire', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Although the purpose of D3 is to practise writing, if time permits it would make a great speaking activity too. Students could even invent and read aloud their own text messages with examples of negation.
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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match the French question words to the English ones.
Correct Answer:combien ?,how much, how many?
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how much, how many?

Correct Answer:quand ?,when
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when

Correct Answer:quel/quelle ?,which?
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which?

Correct Answer:où ?,where?
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where?

Correct Answer:pourquoi ?,why?
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why?

Correct Answer:comment ?,how?
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how?

Q2.
Match the prepositions in French and English.
Correct Answer:à,at, to
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at, to

Correct Answer:dans,in(side)
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in(side)

Correct Answer:devant,in front (of)
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in front (of)

Correct Answer:derrière,behind
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behind

Correct Answer:entre,between
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between

Correct Answer:sur,on (top of)
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on (top of)

Q3.
Order the key nouns with their correct articles, 'a street, an airport and the hotel'.
1 - une
2 - rue
3 - un
4 - aéroport
5 - et
6 - l'
7 - hôtel
Q4.
What does 'malade' mean in English?
sad
Correct answer: ill
nice
yellow
pleased
Q5.
To say what you don't have in French, use 'il n'y a pas' and change any articles to or d'.
Correct Answer: de
Q6.
Fill in the missing word in the sentence 'She doesn't have a uniform.' Elle n'a pas uniforme.
Correct Answer: d'

6 Questions

Q1.
Match the French to the definition.
Correct Answer:un,masculine singular definite article
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masculine singular definite article

Correct Answer:une,feminine singular indefinite article
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feminine singular indefinite article

Correct Answer:des,plural indefinite article
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plural indefinite article

Correct Answer:le,masculine singular definite article
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masculine singular definite article

Correct Answer:la,feminine singular definite article
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feminine singular definite article

Correct Answer:les,plural definite article
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plural definite article

Q2.
To say what you don't have, negate 'avoir' with ne ... pas followed by .
un/une
Correct answer: de/d'
des
no article necessary
Q3.
Order the sentence 'She isn't finding any solutions' in French.
1 - Elle
2 - ne
3 - trouve
4 - pas
5 - de
6 - solutions
Q4.
Fill in the blank, 'Tu n'as pas portables ?' 'Don't you have the phones?'
de
d'
des
Correct answer: les
Q5.
Order the sentence 'Today he's not a pleased boy' in French.
1 - Aujourd'hui
2 - il
3 - n'
4 - est
5 - pas
6 - un garçon
7 - content
Q6.
Fill in the missing word, 'Ce n'est pas maison bleue'
Correct Answer: une

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