Learn French: Vous n'écoutez pas les gens. - You do not listen to people.

Vous n'écoutez pas les gens.

You do not listen to people.

Breakdown of Vous n'écoutez pas les gens.

not (used before the verb)

pas

not (used after the verb)

Questions & Answers about Vous n'écoutez pas les gens.

Why isn't there a word for 'to' after écoutez?

In French, the verb écouter already means 'to listen to' all by itself. You never need to add a preposition like à after it. So, 'listen to people' is simply écouter les gens.

Why is it n'écoutez instead of ne écoutez?

When making a sentence negative with ne ... pas, the word ne drops its e and becomes n' if the verb starts with a vowel. Since écoutez starts with an é, we must use n'.

How do we know how to spell the end of écoutez?

The dictionary form of the verb is écouter. Because it is a regular -er verb, you drop the -er and add -ez whenever the subject is vous (you, formal or plural).

Why does the sentence use les gens instead of just gens?

In English, we often skip the word 'the' when talking about things or people in general (like 'listening to people'). In French, you cannot skip it. General nouns require a definite article, which is why we use les before gens.