Learn French: Ne donnez pas de pain au chien ! - Don't give bread to the dog !

Ne donnez pas de pain au chien !

Don't give bread to the dog !

Breakdown of Ne donnez pas de pain au chien !

le chien

the dog

not (used before the verb)

pas

not (used after the verb)

of / from / any (in negative sentences) / about (concerning)

Questions & Answers about Ne donnez pas de pain au chien !

Why isn't there a subject like vous before donnez?

Since this is a command (the imperative mood), we drop the subject pronoun vous. It works exactly like English, where we say "Don't give" instead of "You don't give".

How do you form the negative of a command?

You put ne before the verb and pas after it, exactly like a regular statement. Here, the verb donnez is hugged by ne and pas to make Ne donnez pas (Do not give).

Why does it say pas de pain instead of pas du pain?

In a positive sentence, you would say donnez du pain (give some bread). But in negative sentences, the articles for "some" (du, de la, des) change to just de or d'. That is why "not any bread" becomes pas de pain.

Why is it au chien and not à le chien?

In French, whenever the preposition à (to) meets the masculine word le (the), they must blend together to form au. Since chien is masculine, "to the dog" becomes au chien.