Learn Hardcore French: Je ne veux pas sortir ce soir.

In informal spoken French, people often drop ne and just say:
Je veux pas sortir ce soir.
This is very common in conversation but considered incorrect in formal writing.
ne … pas is only one type of negation. Others use different words after ne:
- ne … jamais = never
- ne … plus = no longer, not anymore
- ne … rien = nothing / not … anything
- ne … personne = nobody / no one

Why do ne and pas go around veux and not around sortir?

In French, ne … pas always goes around the conjugated verb of the sentence.

In Je ne veux pas sortir ce soir:

veux is the conjugated verb (1st person singular of vouloir – “to want”).
sortir is an infinitive (“to go out”).

So the negation goes around veux:

Je ne veux pas sortir.

If the verb sortir were the only (conjugated) verb, then negation would go around sortir itself:

Je ne sors pas ce soir. = I’m not going out tonight.

When an infinitive verb (like sortir) is directly negated (without another verb before it), ne and pas usually stay together before the infinitive:

Je préfère ne pas sortir ce soir. = I prefer not to go out tonight.
Here ne pas is placed before sortir because sortir is the verb being negated, and préférer is conjugated and already “full.”

What exactly is veux? How is vouloir conjugated here?

Veux is the 1st person singular (and also 2nd person singular) present tense form of vouloir (“to want”).

Present tense of vouloir:

je veux – I want
tu veux – you want (informal singular)
il / elle / on veut – he / she / one wants
nous voulons – we want
vous voulez – you want (formal or plural)
ils / elles veulent – they want

So Je ne veux pas… = “I do not want …”

Vouloir is irregular; you can’t guess veux from the infinitive just by adding a normal ending.

Why is it sortir (“to go out”) and not sors (“go out”)?

After certain verbs like vouloir (to want), pouvoir (to be able to), devoir (to have to), French normally uses the infinitive for the second verb:

Je veux sortir. = I want to go out.
Je peux sortir. = I can go out.
Je dois sortir. = I have to go out.

So in Je ne veux pas sortir ce soir:

veux is the conjugated verb (“I want”)
sortir stays in the infinitive (“to go out”)

If you conjugate sortir instead (e.g. je sors), you change the structure and meaning:

Je ne sors pas ce soir. = I am not going out tonight.
(Focus on the action itself, not on the desire.)

Compare:

Je ne veux pas sortir ce soir.
= I don’t want to go out tonight. (The wish or desire is negative.)
Je ne sors pas ce soir.
= I’m not going out tonight. (A simple fact, maybe already decided.)

Could I say je voudrais instead of je ne veux pas to sound more polite?

Je voudrais is the conditional form of vouloir and is used to sound more polite or softer, like “I would like.”

Je voudrais sortir ce soir. = I would like to go out tonight. (polite / tentative)

However, to say I don’t want to go out tonight, you wouldn’t normally say je ne voudrais pas sortir ce soir, unless it’s a very specific nuance (e.g. “I wouldn’t want to go out tonight” in a hypothetical context).

For everyday direct speech:

Je ne veux pas sortir ce soir. = I don’t want to go out tonight. (clear and direct)
A softer / less blunt alternative:
Je n’ai pas envie de sortir ce soir. = I don’t feel like going out tonight.

Where can I put ce soir in the sentence? Is Je ne veux pas sortir ce soir the only correct order?

Ce soir (“this evening / tonight”) is a time expression, and French allows some flexibility in where you place it.

All of these are possible:

Je ne veux pas sortir ce soir.
(Neutral, very common: “I don’t want to go out tonight.”)
Ce soir, je ne veux pas sortir.
(Emphasizes “tonight”: As for tonight, I don’t want to go out.)
More rarely in everyday speech, you might also hear it mid-sentence for emphasis, but 1 and 2 are the main natural patterns.

General pattern: time expressions often come at the end of the sentence, or at the beginning for emphasis.

What’s the difference between soir and soirée? Why is it ce soir here?

Both relate to the evening, but they’re used differently:

le soir = the evening (as a time of day, more neutral)
la soirée = the evening considered as a duration or event (often with activities)

Ce soir usually translates as “this evening / tonight”:

Je ne veux pas sortir ce soir.
= I don’t want to go out tonight.

Soirée often appears in contexts like:

une soirée = a party, an evening event
(e.g. une soirée entre amis = an evening with friends / a get-together)
Passer une bonne soirée = Have a good evening.

You wouldn’t normally say je ne veux pas sortir cette soirée.
For “tonight,” the natural choice is ce soir.

Why is it ce soir and not something like ce nuit for “tonight”?

French doesn’t use nuit the same way English uses “night” in “tonight.”

ce soir = this evening / tonight (most common way to say “tonight”)
cette nuit = tonight during the night, late at night, or the upcoming nighttime period

So:

Je ne veux pas sortir ce soir.
= I don’t want to go out tonight (in the evening).
Je n’ai pas bien dormi cette nuit.
= I didn’t sleep well last night.

If you say ce nuit, it sounds incorrect; the idiomatic phrase is cette nuit, and it refers to the nighttime, not just the evening’s social time.

In informal speech, can I really drop ne and just say Je veux pas sortir ce soir?

Yes, in informal spoken French, dropping ne is extremely common:

Je veux pas sortir ce soir.
J’veux pas sortir ce soir. (even more casual / fast pronunciation)

This is what you will often hear among friends, in many movies, etc.

However:

In formal speech and especially in writing, you should keep the ne:
- Je ne veux pas sortir ce soir.
When learning, it’s best to master the full form ne … pas first. Once you’re comfortable, you can recognize (and maybe use) the shortened spoken form.

How is the sentence pronounced? Which letters are silent?

Approximate pronunciation (in IPA):
Je ne veux pas sortir ce soir. → /ʒə nə vø pɑ sɔʁtiʁ sə swaʁ/

Key points:

Je → /ʒə/ (the e is a schwa, often very short; in fast speech, it can almost disappear: /ʒ/).
ne → /nə/ but in everyday speech often dropped entirely.
veux → /vø/ (the final x is silent; vowel like French eu).
pas → /pɑ/ (the s is silent).
sortir → /sɔʁtiʁ/ (both r sounds are guttural; final r is pronounced).
ce → /sə/ (another schwa).
soir → /swaʁ/ (final r is pronounced).

In casual, fast speech you might hear something close to:

Je veux pas sortir ce soir.
→ /ʒvø pɑ sɔʁtiʁ sə swaʁ/
(The e in je and ne is often reduced or dropped.)

Does sortir always just mean “to go out,” or can it mean other things?

Sortir has several related meanings:

To go out (to leave home / go somewhere socially) – intransitive:
- Je veux sortir ce soir. = I want to go out tonight.
To go out of a place – often with de:
- Je sors de la maison. = I’m going out of the house.
To take something out (transitive, in some contexts):
- Sortir la poubelle. = To take out the trash.

In Je ne veux pas sortir ce soir, it has the first meaning: go out (usually socially, or leave the house to do something).

How could I change this sentence to say “I don’t feel like going out tonight” instead of “I don’t want to go out tonight”?

A very natural way to say “I don’t feel like going out tonight” is:

Je n’ai pas envie de sortir ce soir.

Breakdown:

Je n’ai pas envie de… = I don’t feel like / I have no desire to…
sortir = go out (infinitive)
ce soir = tonight

So:

Je ne veux pas sortir ce soir.
= I don’t want to go out tonight. (more direct / stronger)
Je n’ai pas envie de sortir ce soir.
= I don’t feel like going out tonight. (softer / more about mood)

If I want to add more information like “with my friends,” where should it go?

You usually add extra information (like avec mes amis) after the rest of the sentence:

Je ne veux pas sortir ce soir avec mes amis.
= I don’t want to go out tonight with my friends.

More natural and clearer wordings are:

Je ne veux pas sortir avec mes amis ce soir.
(keeps avec mes amis close to sortir, which it describes)

You can also move ce soir to the front for emphasis:

Ce soir, je ne veux pas sortir avec mes amis.