On to the next one! In this module, we will talk about informal French.

Please note: French people go back and forth between everyday French and informal French (and slang) depending on their environment (business, friends, family).

I don’t recommend talking like this if you haven’t mastered French pronunciation and French grammar.

I suggest you stick with everyday French until you’re very comfortable speaking it before playing around with informal French.

I talk about informal French here because it is useful to understand your French friends, the dialogues in your favorite Netflix series and the French news.

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The disappearance of the NE

In informal French, the NE of the negation NE ... PAS tends to disappear.

Listen to the examples:

je ne pense pas ➡️ chpense pas (I don’t think so)

je ne crois pas ➡️ chcrois pas (I don’t believe so)

je ne sais pas ➡️ chais pas (I don’t know)

il ne faut pas ➡️ il faut pas (you shouldn’t)

je n’y crois pas ➡️ j’y crois pas (I can’t believe it)

je n’y vais pas ➡️ j’y vais pas (I’m not going)

je n’en mange pas ➡️ j’en mange pas (I’m not eating any)

il n’en parle pas ➡️ il en parle pas (he doesn’t talk about it)

Reminder: You are going to hear that je is pronounced CH before consonants like c, p, t, k, f and s. ⬆️

Spoken French quirk: There is an extreme and pretty unique example of the disappearance of the NE and the PAS while still remaining a negative sentence. 

Listen here:

Ne t’inquiète pas ➡️ t’inquiète pas ➡️ t’inquiète (don’t worry) 

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Same thing with the NE of the negations NE ... PLUS and NE ... JAMAIS. The NE tends to disappear.

⚠️ We never pronounce the S of plus in negations. This is very important with the disappearance of the NE because otherwise the sentence could mean the opposite.

Listen to the examples:

je ne crois plus ➡️ je crois plus (I don’t believe anymore)

je n’y pense plus ➡️ j’y pense plus (I don’t think about it anymore)

je n’en bois plus ➡️ j’en bois plus (I don’t drink it anymore)

il ne faut plus ➡️ il faut plus (you can’t ... anymore)

je ne pense jamais ➡️ je pense jamais (I never think about)

je ne bois jamais ➡️ je bois jamais (I never drink)

je n’en mange jamais ➡️ j’en mange jamais (I never eat it)

il ne faut jamais ➡️ il faut jamais (you must never)

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And it's the same with the NE of the negations NE ... RIEN and NE ... PERSONNE.

Listen to the examples:

tu ne fais rien ➡️ tu fais rien (you’re not doing anything)

il ne parle à personne ➡️ il parle à personne (he doesn’t talk to anyone)

il n’y a personne ➡️ il y a personne and even ➡️ y a personne (there’s no one around)

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Next, we'll go over the disappearance of other letters and words.