Ne crie pas dans la maison, s'il te plaît.

Do not shout in the house, please.

Breakdown of Ne crie pas dans la maison, s'il te plaît.

• la maison: the house
• ne ... pas: not
• dans: in
• s'il te plaît: please
• crier: to scream

Questions & Answers about Ne crie pas dans la maison, s'il te plaît.

Why is there no subject pronoun like tu in Ne crie pas?

Because this is an imperative (a command).

In French, the imperative normally drops the subject pronoun:

• (Tu) crie ! → Crie ! (Shout!)
• (Vous) criez ! → Criez ! (Shout! – polite/plural)
• (Nous) crions ! → Crions ! (Let’s shout!)

So Ne crie pas means “(Tu) ne crie pas”, but the tu is omitted, as is standard in commands.

Why is the verb form crie and not cries or criez?

The verb is crier (a regular -er verb).

• Present tense (with subject pronouns):
  
  • je crie
  • tu cries
  • il/elle crie
  • nous crions
  • vous criez
  • ils/elles crient

The imperative uses tu / nous / vous forms, but:

• For -er verbs, the tu form of the imperative drops the final -s:
  • Present: tu cries
  • Imperative: Crie !

So:

• Crie ! = Speak to one person you know well (informal tu).
• Criez ! = Speak to several people or politely to one person (vous).

In the sentence, we’re talking to one familiar person, so it’s Ne crie pas (tu form, imperative).

Does crier mean “to cry” (shed tears), or “to shout”?

This is a classic false friend for English speakers.

• crier = to shout / to yell / to cry out (use your voice loudly)
• pleurer = to cry / to weep (with tears)

So Ne crie pas means “Don’t shout / don’t yell”, not “Don’t cry (tears)”.
For “Don’t cry” (tears) you would say Ne pleure pas.

How does the negation ne … pas work in Ne crie pas?

French standard negation uses a two-part structure:

• ne (or n’ before a vowel sound)
• plus a second word like pas, jamais, plus, etc.

They go around the verb:

• Crie ! → Ne crie pas !
  (Don’t shout!)

So the pattern is:

Ne + verb (imperative) + pas

In a normal present-tense sentence it’s the same idea:

• Tu cries. → Tu ne cries pas.
  (You shout. → You don’t shout.)

In speech, do people really say Ne crie pas, or do they drop the ne?

In everyday spoken French, it’s very common to drop the “ne” and just say:

• Crie pas dans la maison, s’il te plaît.

This is informal but extremely frequent.
In writing, in careful speech, and in exams, you should keep ne: Ne crie pas…

Why is it dans la maison and not à la maison?

Both exist, but they don’t mean the same thing:

• dans la maison = inside the (particular) house, physically in the building.
  → Focus on the interior space.

• à la maison = at home (where someone lives).
  → Focus on the idea of “home”, not necessarily inside the building at this moment.

So:

• Ne crie pas dans la maison = Don’t shout inside the house (this house).
• Ne crie pas à la maison would sound more like “Don’t shout at home” in general, and is less natural for this very concrete situation.

Why is it la maison and not ma maison or just maison?

Here la maison is “the house” in a specific context: usually the house we’re in right now, shared by the speaker and listener (family house, friend’s house, etc.).

• dans la maison = in the house (understood from context)
• dans ma maison = in my house specifically
• dans une maison = in a house (any house)

Also, French almost always uses an article (la, le, les, une, un) with nouns; a bare maison on its own is very limited to special expressions (for example, Maison close, maison mère, etc.). So dans maison would be incorrect here.

What does s’il te plaît literally mean? How is it built?

s’il te plaît comes from:

• si = if
• il = it (impersonal “it”, referring to what you’re asking)
• te = to you (informal singular object pronoun)
• plaît = pleases (3rd person singular of plaire, “to please”)

Literally: “if it pleases you” → idiomatically: “please”.

Spelling:

• si il contracts to s’il (two vowels together → we drop one i).
• Hence s’il te plaît.

What’s the difference between s’il te plaît and s’il vous plaît?

They both mean “please”, but:

• s’il te plaît:

  • informal, singular
  • used with friends, family, children, people you address with tu

• s’il vous plaît:

  • formal or plural
  • used with strangers, people you address with vous, or more than one person

So speaking to a child:

• Ne crie pas dans la maison, s’il te plaît.

Speaking politely to a stranger or to several people:

• Ne criez pas dans la maison, s’il vous plaît.

Why is there a comma before s’il te plaît, and can its position change?

The comma marks a pause in speech: the main command first, then a politeness tag.

• Ne crie pas dans la maison, s’il te plaît.

You can also put s’il te plaît at the start or end with no comma at the end in informal writing:

• S’il te plaît, ne crie pas dans la maison.
• Ne crie pas dans la maison s’il te plaît.

In normal written French, the comma after the main clause (as in the original) is the most standard-looking.

How would I say this to more than one person or in a formal way?

You change the imperative verb to the vous form:

• Informal, to one person (tu):

  • Ne crie pas dans la maison, s’il te plaît.

• Formal or plural (vous):

  • Ne criez pas dans la maison, s’il vous plaît.

So the sentence adjusts verb and te/vous to match the person and level of formality.