The pronouns y and en
Two pronouns English does not have and French requires. Y replaces a place or a complement with à: tu vas à Paris ? Oui, j'y vais. Je pense à mon travail gives j'y pense. En replaces a complement with de or a quantity: tu viens de Lyon ? J'en viens. Combien de frères as-tu ? J'en ai deux — and that en cannot be dropped even though English says nothing. Quantities are where it is most often forgotten: to “how many do you want?” you do not answer je veux trois but j'en veux trois. They go before the verb, and if other pronouns are present, always last: il y en a.
Where this sits
- Comes after
- Object pronouns
Exercises from this rung
Generated by the app, from easiest to hardest
Je pense à mon travail → J'___ pense.
- y
- lui
- en
- le
Why y replaces an à complement when it is a thing. For a person you use the stressed pronoun: je pense à elle. The thing-or-person distinction decides.
easierTu viens de Lyon ? Oui, j'___ viens.
- de
- y
- le
- en
Why en replaces a de complement: origin, topic, cause. It is the partner of y, which covers à. Learning them as a pair, à → y and de → en, settles ninety per cent of cases.
in betweenÇa y ___ , j'ai fini !
- est
- va
- a
- en
Why y and en live inside fixed expressions that must be learnt whole: ça y est (that's it), il y a (there is), s'en aller (to go away), en avoir marre (to be fed up), s'y connaître (to know one's stuff).
harder