Practice Makes Perfect

Independent clauses and 

subordinate clauses

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  practice makes perfect  Complete French All-in-One   

Simple negative clauses

This type of clause is considered simple because no other clause depends on it. The clause is neg-

ative because it includes a negative term such as pas, plus, jamais, personne, rien, aucun, or nul. 

(To review negative structures, see Chapter 6 .) The clause is also independent because it expresses 

a complete thought and includes a subject as well as a verb. Here is an example of a simple nega-

tive independent clause:

Les Robert ne sont pas à la maison 

The Roberts are not currently at home.  

actuellement. 

In this clause, we can identify the same elements and characteristics as in the example of the 

simple affirmative clause in the previous section. The only difference in this clause is the negative 

structure of the verb. Here we can identify:

◆

  A subject: les Robert

◆

  A predicate: ne sont pas à la maison

The predicate in this clause includes:

◆

  The verb: ne sont pas

◆

  A prepositional phrase: à la maison

◆

  An adverb: actuellement

Other characteristics of this clause to note are:

◆

  The clause is simple: No other clause depends on it.

◆

  The structure of the clause is negative: ne sont pas.

◆

  The clause is independent: It expresses a complete thought and includes the structural  

elements of subject and verb.

Consider another example of a simple independent clause featuring a negative structure:

Je ne mange rien. 

I am not eating anything.

Note once again that this clause expresses a complete thought and includes the necessary struc-

tural elements of an independent clause even though the clause is very short and includes nothing 

but the essential elements of a clause: the subject Je and the verb mange.

Consider a few more examples of simple negative independent clauses and note that these 

are all independent clauses including a subject and a verb: