N’appuie pas trop fort sur le clavier.

Do not press too hard on the keyboard.

Breakdown of N’appuie pas trop fort sur le clavier.

• sur: on
• trop: too
• n' ... pas: not
• le clavier: the keyboard

Questions & Answers about N’appuie pas trop fort sur le clavier.

What verb form is appuie here?

It’s the imperative (command) for tu from the verb appuyer. The sentence is a negative command: ne + verb + pas.

Why is it N’appuie and not Ne appuie?

Because of elision: ne becomes n’ before a vowel sound (as in appuie) or a mute h. So you must write N’appuie pas…, not Ne appuie pas….

Why does appuie end in -e and not -s?

With -er verbs in the imperative for tu, the final -s from the present tense drops: tu appuies → imperative appuie.
There’s one exception: in the affirmative imperative, you add back an -s when the verb is immediately followed by y or en for euphony:

• Affirmative: Appuies-y doucement. / Manges-en. / Vas-y.
• Negative (no added -s, pronouns go before the verb): N’y appuie pas trop fort. / N’en mange pas. / N’y va pas.

How is appuyer spelled and conjugated in the present and imperative?