What happens to articles after ne... pas in French?

Indefinite and partitive articles collapse to plain de (or d' before a vowel) after a negative verb. 'J'ai un chien' becomes 'je n'ai pas de chien'; 'je mange du pain' becomes 'je ne mange pas de pain'; 'il a des amis' becomes 'il n'a pas d'amis'. The definite article (le, la, les) does not change, because it still points to a specific thing: 'je ne vois pas le chien'.

Why do French speakers drop the ne in conversation?

In casual spoken French the ne disappears constantly - 'je sais pas' instead of 'je ne sais pas', 'c'est pas grave' instead of 'ce n'est pas grave', 'j'ai rien fait' instead of 'je n'ai rien fait'. It's universal in informal speech but stays in writing and in formal contexts. For learners: keep the ne in until your ear catches up to which registers tolerate the drop, then let it go where it fits.

French Negation

To negate a French sentence, wrap two words around the verb: ne goes before, the negative word (pas, jamais, rien, personne) goes after. The verb form itself doesn't change.

Je parle francais. (I speak French.) -> Je ne parle pas francais.
J'ai du temps. (I have time.) -> Je n'ai pas de temps.
Marie est venue. (Marie came.) -> Marie n'est pas venue.

The four Foundation-tier pairs

Negation	English
ne... pas	not
ne... jamais	never
ne... rien	nothing
ne... personne	nobody, no one

The structure is always the same. Ne (or n' before a vowel) goes before the verb; the second word goes after.

Je ne mange pas. (I don't eat.)
Je ne mange jamais de viande. (I never eat meat.)
Je ne mange rien. (I eat nothing.)
Je ne vois personne. (I see no one.)

Position in the compound past

In compound tenses (passe compose), pas, jamais, rien sit between the auxiliary and the past participle. Personne sits after the participle.

Je n'ai pas mange. (I didn't eat.)
Je n'ai jamais vu ce film. (I've never seen this film.)
Je n'ai rien dit. (I didn't say anything.)
Je n'ai vu personne. (I saw no one.)

The personne exception catches everyone - it stays at the end because it functions as the direct object, not a sentence-level negator.

The article-becomes-de rule

After a negative verb, indefinite and partitive articles collapse to plain de (or d' before a vowel). This is mandatory.

J'ai un chien. -> Je n'ai pas de chien.
Je mange du pain. -> Je ne mange pas de pain.
Il a des amis. -> Il n'a pas d'amis.
J'achete de la viande. -> Je n'achete pas de viande.

The definite article (le, la, les) does not change - it still points to a specific thing:

Je vois le chien. -> Je ne vois pas le chien.

Negative words as subjects

When rien or personne is the subject, it goes before the verb and ne still appears:

Personne ne parle. (No one is speaking.)
Rien ne marche. (Nothing works.)
Personne n'est venu. (No one came.)

This is the only word order where the negative word leads.

The colloquial ne-drop

In casual spoken French, the ne disappears constantly. You'll hear all of these in real conversation:

Je sais pas. (I don't know.) - standard form: je ne sais pas
C'est pas grave. (It doesn't matter.) - standard: ce n'est pas grave
J'ai rien fait. (I didn't do anything.) - standard: je n'ai rien fait
T'as pas faim? (Aren't you hungry?) - standard: tu n'as pas faim

The drop is universal in informal speech. It's wrong in writing, in school essays, in formal speech, and on the GCSE exam. Recognise it; don't produce it until you've heard a few thousand hours of native input.

Worked examples

Je ne veux rien. (I don't want anything.)
Je n'ai jamais ete a Paris. (I have never been to Paris.)
Je ne connais personne ici. (I don't know anyone here.)
Il n'y a pas de probleme. (There's no problem.)
Je n'ai pas d'argent. (I don't have any money.)
Personne ne sait. (No one knows.)

Common mistakes English speakers make

Forgetting the ne: writing je sais pas in an essay because that's what you hear in films. The drop is colloquial only. Forgetting the article-becomes-de rule: je n'ai pas un chien is wrong, it's je n'ai pas de chien. And translating "anything" or "anyone" in positive sentences with rien or personne - they only work in negative contexts. For "is anyone here?", you say il y a quelqu'un?, not il y a personne?.