Learn French: Ne te blesse pas avec ce couteau. - Don't hurt yourself with this knife.

Ne te blesse pas avec ce couteau.

Don't hurt yourself with this knife.

Breakdown of Ne te blesse pas avec ce couteau.

avec

with

not (used before the verb)

pas

not (used after the verb)

this (before a noun)

Questions & Answers about Ne te blesse pas avec ce couteau.

Why does this sentence use te instead of toi?

In an affirmative command, you use toi after the verb (like blesse-toi). But in a negative command, the pronoun moves in front of the verb and changes back to the normal te.

What is the exact word order for this negative command?

The negative words ne and pas wrap around both the pronoun and the verb. The pattern is always: ne + reflexive pronoun (te) + verb (blesse) + pas.

Why doesn't blesse end with an "s" here?

Blesser is a regular -ER verb. When giving commands to one person using the tu form, -ER verbs drop the final "s" from their usual present tense spelling. So tu te blesses becomes the command ne te blesse pas.

Why use ce couteau instead of le couteau?

Le couteau simply means "the knife". Ce is a demonstrative adjective meaning "this" or "that". Since couteau is a masculine noun, we use ce to specifically say "this knife".