Questions & Answers about Ce n'est pas un problème.
Why is it n'est instead of ne est?
In French, when the negative word ne comes right before a verb that starts with a vowel (like est), the e is dropped and replaced by an apostrophe. This makes the words flow better when speaking. So, ne est becomes n'est. Normally I see c'est for 'it is'. Why isn't there an apostrophe after Ce in this sentence?
In the positive phrase c'est (it is), the e in ce drops because the very next word (est) starts with a vowel. But in this negative sentence, the word ne steps between them. Since ne starts with a consonant, ce gets to keep its e and we write Ce n'est pas. How exactly is the negative 'sandwich' built here?
To make a verb negative in French, you put ne (or n') right before the verb and pas right after it. Here, our verb is est (is). We wrap it up to make n'est pas (is not), and place the whole negative chunk directly after the subject Ce (It). Since problème ends in an 'e', shouldn't it be a feminine word?
Not always! While many French words ending in -e are feminine, there are common exceptions. problème is a masculine word, which is why we must use the masculine article un (a) instead of the feminine une. It is a great exception to memorize early on! Learn Ce n'est pas un problème and more in French
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