Learn French: Je ne comprends pas le livre. - I do not understand the book.

Je ne comprends pas le livre.

I do not understand the book.

Breakdown of Je ne comprends pas le livre.

le livre

the book

not (used before the verb)

comprendre

to understand

Questions & Answers about Je ne comprends pas le livre.

Why are there two words, ne and pas, to say "do not"?

In French, basic negation is like a sandwich. You put ne before the conjugated verb (comprends) and pas after it. Together, ne ... pas means "not" or "do not".

Why is it ne here instead of n'?

You only drop the 'e' and use n' when the verb following it starts with a vowel or a silent 'h'. Because comprends starts with a consonant ('c'), you use the full word ne.

Why does comprends end with an 's' if it is paired with je?

For many French verbs, especially those ending in '-re' like comprendre (to understand), the je (I) and tu (you) forms end in an 's'. The 's' here is silent.

Why do we use le for "the book" instead of la?

In French, every noun has a gender. The word for book, livre, is masculine, so you use the masculine word for "the", which is le. If the noun were feminine, you would use la.