Negative Words in English: No, Not, Don’t, Didn’t

Hello. My name is Emma. Today, we will talk about negative words, like "no", "don't",

"doesn't", and "didn't", and "not". When do we use these words? Many learners have

difficulty with these words, so let's learn how to use these words. So, I have four sentences.

Let's make these sentences negative. The sentences are "I have friends", "I will see you", "I

can sing", and "I work". Can you try to make these sentences negative with words like "no",

"don't", "didn't", "doesn't", and "not"? Okay. Let's look at the negative sentences.

"I have friends" becomes "I have no friends", or we can say "I don't have friends". Both

are possible. "I will see you" becomes "I will not see you", or "I won't see you". Both

are possible. "I can sing" becomes "I cannot sing", or "I can't sing". Again, both of these

are possible. Finally, "I work" becomes "I don't work". So, let's look at when do we

use "no", when do we use "don't", "doesn't", and "not". What are the grammar rules for

these words? Okay. So, we use "not" with "be" verbs. So, when I say the "be" verb, I mean

when we say "I am", "you are", "he is", "she is", "we are", "they are". These are all examples

of sentences with the "be" verb when it's been conjugated. So, let's look at examples

with "not". So, I can say, "I am not a student." Notice, "not" comes after the "be" verb. "Am"

is the "be" verb, "not" is after the "be" verb. We can say the same with "you". "You

are not a student.", "He or she is not a student.", "We are not", actually there's a mistake here,

we can say, "We are not students.", "They are not", again, same mistake, we'll just

add an "s" here, "They are not students." One other thing I want to mention is that

we can also use a contraction. A contraction is when you combine two words and add an apostrophe.

So, for example, we can say, "I am not a student.", "You aren't a student.", "Aren't", I'll write

how it's spelled, is a contraction. It's "are not" together with an apostrophe. So, we can

say, "You aren't a student." It's the same with "is not", we can combine "is" and "not"

to make "isn't", and we can say, "He or she", "He isn't a student.", "She isn't a student."

And it looks like this. Okay. And the same goes for "We aren't students.", "They aren't

students."

Now, it's your turn. "My dog is a cat." That makes no sense. Let's use the "not" word.

What can we say? Well, we have the "be" verb, "is". "My dog is not a cat." Phew, good. Alright.

What else can we say? Here we have the present continuous, "We are learning English." So,

let's make this a negative sentence. "We", we have the "be" verb, "We are not learning

English." Actually, I don't like this sentence because we are learning English. Let's change

this to French. "We are not learning French." That's a better sentence.

Okay, let's look at some other negative words and how to use them. So, we use "not" with

helping verbs, or you might call them auxiliary verbs, or maybe modals. So, a helping verb

is a verb that helps the main verb. It gives information about the main verb. For example,

"Allie can ride her sister's bike." "Ride" is the main verb. We can say "can" is the

helping verb here.

So, what are some other examples of helping verbs? Or, again, these are all the same things;

modals, auxiliary verbs. Well, "will", "can", "have", "should", "would", "could", "may",

"might" are all examples of helping verbs. So, let's see how we use "not" with these

verbs. Okay, so now let's make a negative sentence. So, remember, "not" is used with

these helping verbs. So, we have the verb "can". We can say, "Allie can not ride her

sister's bike." Or we can say, "Allie can't ride her sister's bike." Notice "not" or the

contraction "can't" is before the main verb. "Ride" is the main verb; "cannot" or "can't"

are the helping verbs in the negative form.

Here is another example. "I will not go." "Go" is the main verb; "will" is the helping

verb. So, you'll notice that "not" goes between these. It's right after "will". "I will not

go." We can also use a contraction. "Won't" is the contraction of "will not". "Will not"

together becomes "won't". "I won't go." We can do the same with "should". "I should not

study at night." "Study" is the main verb; "should" is the helping verb; "not" goes right

after "should". "I should not study." We can also say, if we use a contraction, "should

not" together becomes "shouldn't". "I shouldn't study at night."

You might notice "cannot" is one word, but "will not", "should not", "have not", "could

not" are two words, separate. Why is there a difference? "Cannot" is a special exception.

"Cannot" is always one word. The rest of these with "not" are two words with a space. Okay,

it is time for a quiz. Practice what you learned. Let's put the correct negative word here.

You are no mad or you are not mad. Which is correct? In this case, we have the "be" verb,

so we know after the "be" verb, we use the word "not". "You are not mad." That's good.

The next sentence, "I would love to work 16 hours", or "I would love to work for 16 hours."

Is that true? No. So, let's make a negative sentence. What do we put? Do we put the word

"not" here, or do we put it here? So, we have our main verb, "love", and "would" is the

helping verb, so we can say, "I would not love to work 16 hours." And there's actually

nothing here. Okay, "I would not love to work for 16 hours." Or I can say, "I wouldn't love

to work for 16 hours."

Alright, let's look at the third example. "She going to school." So, we need the word

"is", but to make this negative, where do we put the "not"? Or do we use "no"? Do we

say, "She is no going to school" or "She is not going to school"? Well, we would put "not",

and where do we put it? Well, "is" is a "be" verb, so it goes right after the "be" verb.

"She is not going to school." And so there's nothing that goes here. Okay, so for simple

present tense verbs, we use "don't" or "doesn't". Let's look at "don't" first. "Speak" is a

simple present tense verb. We can say, "You speak Spanish." The opposite is "You don't

speak Spanish." "Don't" is a contraction; it's "do not" together, becomes "don't". We

can also say, "You do not speak Spanish." That is possible, too. "Go" is another example

of a simple present English verb. So, "You go to church", we can make this a negative

sentence by saying, "You don't go to church" or "You do not go to church". So, what are

some other simple present tense verbs? "Play" is an example of a simple present tense verb.

"He plays", "She plays", "I play". "Work" is another example. "Travel", "visit", "look",

"do", these are all examples of simple present tense verbs. And so, with the simple present

tense verbs, when they are not "be" verbs and they are not helping verbs, we use "don't"

or "doesn't". Let's look at "doesn't" now. Okay. So, for simple present verbs, when we

are talking about "he", "she", or "it", we use "doesn't". For example, "He likes dogs."

"Likes" is a simple present tense verb. If I want to make this negative, I can say, "He

doesn't like dogs." Or I can say, "He does not like dogs." These are both possible. Again,

"doesn't" is the contraction of "does" and "not". "Does" and "not" together becomes "doesn't".

Let's look at an example with "she". "She works." "Work" is a simple present tense verb.

If I make it negative, I can say, "She doesn't work." Or, "She does not work." Now, you might

notice "like" has an "s" because we are talking about "he", so when we conjugate in English,

we add an "s" onto the verb for "he". It's the same with "she". "She works." We add this

"s" because we are talking about "she", but in the negative sentence, we do not need an

"s". So, "He doesn't like dogs." There is no "s" here because of the negative. "He does

not like dogs." Again, no "s" because of the negative. It's the same with "she". "Works"

has an "s", "doesn't work", no "s", no "s". So, let's do an example together with "it".

"It", "he", and "she" all use "doesn't". So, here is the positive sentence, "It rains

every day." Let's make a sentence with "doesn't". "It doesn't..." Okay, so now, the verb I'm

going to use is "rain". Does it need this "s"? No. So, we can say, "It doesn't rain

every day." Okay, so no "s". All right, let's look at some more examples of when we use

negative words. Okay, time for a quiz. "She", "sing", and "I", "sing". I want to make these

negative sentences in the present tense. How do I do this? Do I use "not", "doesn't", or

"don't"? Let's start with "she". "She don't sing", "She doesn't sing", or "She not sing"?

The answer is "doesn't". So, "She doesn't", and do we add an "s" here? Do we say, "She

doesn't sing"? No, we don't add anything. There is no conjugation; we keep the verb

in its base form. What about "I"? "I don't sing", "I doesn't sing", or "I not sing"?

Well, in this case, we would use "don't". "I don't sing", and do we add anything to

the end here? No, we keep the verb in its base form. Okay, so let's now think about

the past tense. When we want to talk about the past and we are using a simple past tense

verb, we use "didn't". So, here is an example. "Last year, I didn't go." So, "go" is my verb,

and I'm talking about last year, so I can use "didn't" as my negative, or I can use

"did not". So, we can also use "did not". "Didn't" is the contraction of "did not".

If you combine "did" and "not" together, it becomes "didn't". Can we say this? "Last year,

I didn't went." Well, "went" is a past tense verb. Is this okay? No, this is not correct.

We need to keep it in the base form. So, you don't change the verb. The verb stays in the

base form. "Didn't" tells us it's the past tense. So, we can do this with other verbs.

"Last year, I didn't travel.", "I didn't play.", "I didn't work.", "I didn't sleep." So, again,

the verb does not change; it's in the base form.

What about for "she" or "he"? Is it different? Okay, for "he" and "she", we use "didn't"

for the past tense as well. It's the same for "it". So, "it", "he", and "she", we use

"didn't". "Last month, she didn't work." Do we need "ed" here because it's the past tense?

No, we don't. "Didn't" tells us it's the past tense. We do not need "ed" in the negative

form. If it was in the affirmative, "She worked", in that case, yes, you would need "ed", but

in the negative form, you do not need "ed". "Last month, it didn't snow." So, we're using

"it", we can use "didn't" or "did not". Does "snow" need "ed" here? No. Why not? Because

we are using "didn't". We don't need "ed" and "didn't". "Didn't" tells us it's the past

tense.

What about the last one, "he"? "Last week, he didn't play." Do we need "ed" here? No.

We just keep the verb in the base form because "didn't" tells us it's a past tense. So, this

might seem easy to you, but many learners make mistakes with "didn't" and "don't" and

"doesn't", so be careful because as a teacher, I see many mistakes with these words, and

I don't want you to make these mistakes; I want you to learn from this and to make grammatical

sentences.

All right, let's look at "no". We use "no" with nouns. What is a noun? A noun is a person,

a place, a thing, or an idea. Let's look at some examples. "No dogs allowed." "Dogs" is

a noun; it's an animal. So, we can use "no" in front of dogs. You'll notice we use "no"

when we are talking about rules a lot. You know, "no swimming", "no cats", "no shirt",

"no service". So, you will hear "no" with many rules.

So, let's look at another example. "There was no bus." You might say, "I see a be verb.

Why don't we use 'not'?" Well, because "bus" is a noun, so the "no" goes with the word

"bus"; it goes with the noun. "There was no bus."

Here's another example. "I have no homework." "No" is describing the noun "homework". We

can also use "no" with -ing noun forms, or also called gerunds. So, for example, you

might see the sign "no smoking". So, this is a noun with -ing; we call it a gerund.

We can use "no" in front of it, or "no eating on the bus". So, again, we have our -ing form

of the noun, so we can use "no".

You might wonder, well, can I say, "I don't have homework"? Yes, you can. You can say,

"I don't have homework" or "I have no homework". Both of these are possible. You cannot say,

"I don't have no homework", because in English, we do not like two negatives in the same sentence,

so you should have one negative per sentence. "I have no homework" or "I don't have any

homework".

Okay. So, thank you so much for watching. The best way to learn is to practice and to

test yourself. You can visit our website at www.engvid.com and take a quiz on everything

you learned in this video today. You can practice "don't", "doesn't", "no", and "not", and when

to use these different expressions. Remember, practice makes perfect. You can also subscribe

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vocabulary, slang, and so much more. So, thank you for watching, and until next time, take

care.