How to Form Negative Sentences 

English negative sentences (unlike questions) follow the same basic word order as affirmative sentences. They start with a noun or pronoun as the subject, and then the verb and the rest of the predicate. (Negative commands, like positive ones, omit the subject.)

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The main difference: to make a verb negative, put a helping verb and ‘not’ in front of it. (Negating the verb is the usual way to make a negative sentence.) 

See the examples below, then read the explanation.

 See also other ways to make sentences negative(besides using 'not') at the bottom of this page. 

(In the image box to the right or above, notice that half the quotes do not use 'not.' Those that include it use a contraction: don't, can't, or wouldn't.)

Some Examples Using 'Not':

To make these examples as clear as possible, the subject is orange and the predicate is blue.

Mary doesn’t drink coffee.

My brothers don’t speak Chinese.

Jim's best friends don’t live near him.

I didn’t go to the store last week.

Lions do not eat grass.

Esther can’t go tomorrow.

Some people won’t eat spicy foods.

Bill hasn’t learned to type.

You shouldn’t cheat on tests.

Explanation

'Do' is the most common helping verb for negative sentences. We use it whenever the affirmative sentence does not have a helping verb.  (Mary likes ice cream. She does not like cake.)

For the perfect or continuous tenses, use ‘have’ or ‘be’ instead.  (We can also use 'be’ without a helping verb. It’s the only verb in English that does not need a helping verb for negatives.)

We can also use a modal verb like ‘can’, ‘will’, 'would', or ‘should’ + not to make a sentence negative.

It’s very common to use contractions in speech and informal writing. In fact, English speakers rarely use ‘do not,’ 'cannot,' or ‘will not’ except when we want to really emphasize ‘not.’ 

Instead of saying 'he does not,' we say 'he doesn't.' 'Will not' changes to 'won't,' 'can not' to 'can't' and 'are not' to 'aren't.' See Modal Verbs and The Verb to Be. 

Remember,

• use doesn't (or does not) for 3rd person: he or she doesn't go. (The main verb-- 'go' in this sentence-- stays in the base form, without an '-s' or '-es' at the end. See the Helping Verb section of English Verbs.)

• use don't (or do not) for I, you, or plurals: I don't go, you don't go, we don't go, and they don't go either,
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