Je ne vois pas bien les chiffres sur la facture.

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Breakdown of Je ne vois pas bien les chiffres sur la facture.

• ne ... pas: not
• sur: on
• voir: to see

Questions & Answers about Je ne vois pas bien les chiffres sur la facture.

Why is the sentence Je ne vois pas... instead of just Je vois...?

Because French usually makes a sentence negative with ne ... pas around the verb.

• Je vois = I see
• Je ne vois pas = I do not see / I can’t see

Here, ne comes before the verb and pas comes after it. In everyday spoken French, people often drop ne, so you may hear:

Je vois pas bien les chiffres sur la facture.

That is very common in speech, but in standard written French, ne is normally kept.

What does bien mean here? Does it mean well?

Yes, bien often means well, but in this sentence it is better understood as clearly or properly.

So Je ne vois pas bien... means:

• I can’t see ... very well
• I can’t see ... clearly

It does not mean the speaker is bad at the act of seeing in general. It means the visibility is poor.

Why is bien placed after vois?