Question 1

Where exactly do the negative words ne and pas go in the passé composé?

Accepted Answer

They go right around the helping verb, which in this sentence is a (from the verb avoir). This gives us n'a pas. The main action word (the past participle), remarqué, always comes after pas.

Question 2

Why is it written as n'a instead of ne a?

Accepted Answer

Because a starts with a vowel. In French, you must drop the 'e' in ne and add an apostrophe whenever the next word starts with a vowel or a silent 'h'. This makes it easier to say quickly.

Question 3

I thought words ending in 'e' were usually feminine. Why does this sentence use the masculine ce for 'this problem'?

Accepted Answer

You are right that many words ending in 'e' are feminine, but problème is a common exception. It is actually a masculine noun! Because it is masculine and starts with a consonant, we use the masculine word for 'this', which is ce.

Question 4

Does remarqué mean she didn't 'remark' on the problem, or she didn't 'notice' it?

Accepted Answer

While it looks like 'remark', in everyday French remarquer usually means 'to notice'. If you wanted to say she didn't comment on it, you would use a phrase like faire une remarque. Here, she simply didn't see the problem.

Elle n'a pas remarqué ce problème.

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