Learn French: L'ambassadeur ne ratifie pas le traité en Espagne ? Si. - The ambassador isn't ratifying the treaty in Spain? Yes, he is.

L'ambassadeur ne ratifie pas le traité en Espagne ? Si.

The ambassador isn't ratifying the treaty in Spain? Yes, he is.

Breakdown of L'ambassadeur ne ratifie pas le traité en Espagne ? Si.

not (used before the verb)

pas

not (used after the verb)

in, to

l'Espagne

Spain

Questions & Answers about L'ambassadeur ne ratifie pas le traité en Espagne ? Si.

Why is the answer Si instead of Oui?

In French, when you want to answer 'yes' to a negative question (or contradict a negative statement), you must use si instead of oui. Since the question asks 'isn't he ratifying...?' (ne ratifie pas... ?), answering si means 'Yes, on the contrary, he is ratifying it.'

I thought nouns ending in '-té' were usually feminine. Why is it le traité?

Most nouns ending in -té or -tié are indeed feminine (like la beauté or la société). However, le traité (the treaty) is an exception. A few other common masculine exceptions you might know are le côté (the side) and le comité (the committee).

Why do we use en for 'in Spain' instead of à or au?

You use en for 'in' or 'to' with feminine countries, which are almost always the ones ending in the letter -e (like Espagne, France, or Italie). For masculine countries starting with a consonant, you use au (like au Portugal), and for plural countries, aux (like aux États-Unis).

There is no est-ce que or subject inversion here. Is it normal to ask a negative question this way?