Talking About What You Do and Don’t Drink

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to say what you drink — and what you don’t drink — using the verb boire (to drink).

Basic Structures

Add adverbs to say how often:

• toujours – always
• souvent – often
• parfois – sometimes

Examples (Positive Statements)

Negative Sentences with “ne… jamais”

To say never drink, use the structure:
ne + verb + jamais

Grammar Tips

1️⃣ The Verb boire (to drink)

Boire is an irregular verb, so it doesn’t follow regular -re or -ir patterns.

Notice that bois and boit sound the same, even though they’re spelled differently!

2️⃣ Articles with Drinks

French uses partitive articles (du, de la, de l’) to mean “some” or “a bit of”:

• du (masculine): du café, du thé
• de la (feminine): de la limonade
• de l’ (before vowels): de l’alcool

These articles change to de / d’ in the negative:

• Je bois du café → Je ne bois pas de café.
• Je bois de la limonade → Je ne bois jamais de limonade.

So if you’re saying never or not, you drop the du / de la / de l’ and just use de or d’.

3️⃣ Negatives in French

French negatives usually go around the verb:

• ne … pas → not
• ne … jamais → never
• ne … plus → no longer

Example:

• Je bois du thé. → Je ne bois jamais de thé.
• Ils boivent souvent du café. → Ils ne boivent jamais de café.

Useful Words and Phrases

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