Negative Sentences in English Grammar

How to form negative sentences

Negative sentences are formed by placing an auxiliary verb and not before the main verb.

The auxiliary verb depends on the tense we are using. We use do + not in simple tenses, be + not in progressive tenses, have + not in perfect tenses and have + not + been in perfect progressive tenses. We do not need an auxiliary verb with be as a main verb or with the modal verbs, they are negated by adding not.

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Contents

The boy is from England, but the girl is not from England.

They are not talking because she doesn’t speak English.

They haven’t got a dictionary.

Negation of modal verbs and “be”

We don’t use auxiliary verbs with modal verbs or with be when it is a main verb.

To negate a modal verb, we put not between the modal verb and the main verb. In spoken and informal speech we usually use the contracted form (= …n’t).

Example:
I can’t speak French.
can + not = can’t

When we use be as a main verb in the simple present or simple past, we simply put not after the form of be. In spoken and informal English we usually use a contraction.

Examples:
He is from England, but she is not from England.
→ He’s from England, but she’s not/isn’t from England.
Pronoun Full Form Contraction
Simple Present I am not …’m not
you, we, they are not …’re not
aren’t
he, she, it is not …’s not
isn’t
Simple Past I, he, she, it was not wasn’t
you, we, they were not weren’t

Negation with “do”

We use a form of do + not before the main verb to negate all other verbs in the simple present and the simple past.

Example:
We speak English. → We do not speak English.

Note that main verb is used in the infinitive – only the auxiliary verb do is conjugated.

Example:
We didn’t ask a question.
not: We didn’t asked

We use does for the third person singular in the simple present but do for all other persons and did for all forms in the simple past.

Example:
They speak English. → They do not speak English.
He speaks English. → He does not speak English.
They spoke English. → They did not speak English.

The contracted forms of do + not are listed in the table below. They are preferred in spoken language:

Example:
They do not speak English. → They don’t speak English.
Pronoun Full Form Contraction
Simple Present I, you, we, they do not don’t
he, she, it does not doesn’t
Simple Past all forms did not didn’t

Negation with “be”, “have” and “will”

Progressive, perfect and future tenses as well as sentences in the passive voice already have an auxiliary verb. To negate them, we simply put not between the auxiliary verb and the main verb.

Examples:
They are speaking English. → They are not speaking English. (present progressive)
They have spoken English. → They have not spoken English. (present perfect simple)
They will speak English. → They will not speak English. (future simple)
English is spoken in that country. → English is not spoken in that country. (passive voice)

We can also use contractions for the negated forms of have and will:

Tense Full Form Contraction
Present Perfect Simple I have not spoken. I haven’t spoken.
I’ve not spoken.
She has not spoken. She hasn’t spoken.
She’s not spoken.
Past Perfect Simple We had not spoken. We hadn’t spoken.
We’d not spoken.
will-Future They will not speak. They won’t speak.
They’ll not speak.
Passive English is not spoken there. English isn’t spoken there.

Negation with “have”

When the verb have indicates belonging or possession, there are two possible ways to construct the negation.

We can use the verb have with the auxiliary verb do, following the regular neagtion pattern for the simple present.

Example:
They have a dictionary. → They do not have a dictionary.

There is also the form have got. For the negation in this case, we don’t use do, instead we put not between have and got.

Example:
They have got a dictionary. → They haven’t got a dictionary.