EN: Don't you dare not talk to me!

butch from waco

butch from waco

Senior Member
USA Illinois
France // French
Hi everyone,

We were messing around with my girlfriend and she was pretending she was ignoring me.
In order to cut the joke, i said "Don't you dare not talking to me". But she told me my sentence was wrong, that it was "talk" instead of "talking". I just can't understand why...
If someone could help, i would really appreciate.

Thanks.
 
    • She is right in what she says, but I'm afraid I'm not positive as to exactly why.

    Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the affirmative version of this phrase is "don't you dare talk to me", although why it shouldn't be "don't you dare to talk" and hence "dare to not talk me" I truly cannot fathom.
     
    There is no explanation. With dare, sometimes you can or must use "to" and sometimes you cannot. I think if you leave it out, you will be right most of the time. Just listen to your girlfriend.

    Also:
    We were messing around with my girlfriend […]
    Click to expand...
    This means that there were (at least) 3 people there.
     
    As far as I remember from my early English lessons (long ago now) :

    "Dare" can be either a regular verb or an irregular verb.

    If regular :
    I do not dare to speak

    If irregular :
    I dare not speak

    Is that correct ?
     
    to dare + infintive :tick:
    to dare + v-ing :cross:

    Some verbs must be followed by an infinitive. Others must be followed by a gerund. Others can be followed by either/both. There is no real rule. You just have to learn them. More information here and here from our Resources thread.

    PS. C'est toute une autre question, alors normalement ça devrait être dans un autre fil, mais... ;)
    Vous plaisantiez avec votre copine, vous n'étiez que deux : My girlfriend and I were joking around, and she... / I was joking around with my girlfriend, and she...
    Avec d'autres amis, vous taquiniez votre copine, vous étiez plusieurs à la taquiner : We were joking around with my girlfriend, and she...
    Tout le monde taquinait tout le monde :     We were all joking around, and my girlfriend...
     
    butch from waco said:
    Yes... this is what i answered too... why isn't it "don't you dare not to talk to me" but she couldn't give me any explanation!
    Click to expand...

    In this case the "to" is essential to differentiate between meanings. Take the following two sentences:
    "I dare not to go."
    "I dare not go."
    The latter means "I don't dare (to) go." whereas the former means that "not to go" is the thing I dare to do.
     
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