Le chat ne mange pas de légumes.

The cat does not eat vegetables.

Breakdown of Le chat ne mange pas de légumes.

• le chat: the cat
• manger: to eat
• le légume: the vegetable
• ne … pas: not

Questions & Answers about Le chat ne mange pas de légumes.

What does ne … pas do in this sentence?

ne and pas together form the standard negation in French. You place ne before the verb (mange) and pas after it to say “does not” (the cat does not eat).

Why is there de before légumes instead of des?

After a negative verb, all indefinite and partitive articles (un/une, des, du, de la) become de (or d’ before a vowel). So des légumes (“some vegetables”) turns into de légumes in the negative.

Why is it Le chat and not Un chat?

Le is the definite article (“the cat”), which can refer to a specific cat or cats in general. Un is the indefinite article (“a cat”), referring to one unspecified cat.

Why is the verb manger written as mange here?

The verb manger is conjugated in the present tense for third-person singular (il/elle/on) as mange. If you spoke to “tu,” you’d say tu manges.

What kind of article is de in de légumes?

Here de is the partitive article, expressing an unspecified quantity of vegetables (“any vegetables” or “vegetables in general”). In negatives, it stays de without specifying amount.

How would you say “The cat doesn’t eat the vegetables” (meaning specific vegetables)?

You’d keep the definite article les rather than using de. The sentence becomes Le chat ne mange pas les légumes, meaning the cat doesn’t eat those specific vegetables.

Can you drop ne in spoken French?

Yes. Informally, people often say Le chat mange pas de légumes in everyday speech, though in writing the full ne … pas is preferred.

Why isn’t de translated as “of” here?

In this case, de is not the preposition “of” but the partitive article indicating an unspecified amount. In English we often render it as “any” or leave it out: “The cat doesn’t eat vegetables.”