Je n'ai pas pris mon parapluie ce matin !

Questions & Answers about Je n'ai pas pris mon parapluie ce matin !

Why is the negative built as n'ai pas pris instead of n'ai pris pas?
In the passé composé (past tense), the negative words ne and pas act like a sandwich around the helping verb, not the main action word. Here, the helping verb is ai (have). So the order is ne + ai + pas, followed by the main action pris (taken). Because ai starts with a vowel, ne drops its 'e' and becomes n'.
Where does the word pris come from?
Pris is the past participle (past tense form) of the verb prendre (to take). Just like in English where "take" becomes the irregular "taken" instead of "taked", prendre is an irregular verb in French. You just have to memorize that its past form is pris.
Why do we use mon for "my umbrella"?
In French, possessive words like "my" must match the gender of the object you own, not the person who owns it. The word parapluie (umbrella) is masculine, so we use the masculine word mon, regardless of whether the speaker is a man or a woman.
Why is "this morning" translated as ce matin?
Ce is a pointing word that means "this" or "that" when used in front of a masculine noun. Since matin (morning) is masculine, we use ce. French uses ce matin exactly like we use "this morning" in English.

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