Être garde l'article (ce n'est pas une…)
P48.articles-and-agreement.02 · Audience: guest, language-pro, it-ml · Prerequisites: La négation réduit l'article (pas de)
Unité GR-02 · campagne 1 · le verbe qui refuse la réduction.
GR-01 gave you the reduction: negation turns un, une, des, du, de la into bare de. Here is the exception that trips even strong writers: with the verb être, the article stays whole.
- Ce n'est pas une voiture, c'est un camion.
- Ce ne sont pas des amis, ce sont des collègues.
- Ce n'était pas une erreur, c'était un choix.
Why the resistance? A sentence built on être does not negate having, doing or consuming something — it negates an identity. "Not a car" only makes sense if the category car stays fully named, usually because a correction follows (c'est un camion). The article is doing classification work, and classification survives negation intact.
The reliable test is the verb, not the meaning you sense. Same noun, two verbs, two outcomes:
- Je n'ai pas de problème. — avoir, the article reduces.
- Ce n'est pas un problème. — être, the article stays.
When you catch yourself writing "ce n'est pas de…", stop: if the verb is être, restore the full article. The practice set below alternates the two frames until choosing between them is automatic.
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Where next?
Later in Articles & Agreement (written)