A2 · The pronouns · about 4 minutes
The pronouns y and en
Two words English has to answer without.
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“New to me”: the explanation first, then practice. “Test myself”: 3 short questions – get at least two right and you go straight to the harder exercises.
Understand
Remember«Yes, I do» has no French translation: say the verb again.
- Signal words
- aller
- penser à
- avoir besoin de
- combien
The form
The forms and what they mean
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in French.
| I am going there. | J’y vais. |
| I am thinking about it. | J’y pense. |
| I have just come from there. | J’en viens. |
| I have two of them. | J’en ai deux. |
| There are three of them. | Il y en a trois. |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
y stands for a place and for anything with à.
Tu vas au marché ? — J’y vais.Are you going to the market? — I am going there.
en stands for a quantity and for anything with de.
Tu as du pain ? — Oui, j’en ai.Do you have any bread? — Yes, I have some.
A number or a quantity stays at the end.
J’en veux un kilo.I would like a kilo of it.
For people, à takes a pronoun rather than y.
Je pense à elle.I am thinking about her.
Example sentences
Le sucre ? Il n’y en a plus.The sugar? There is none left.
Tu es allé à Lyon ? — Oui, j’y suis allé.Did you go to Lyon? — Yes, I went there.
Des questions ? — J’en ai une.Any questions? — I have one.
1 more example sentences
On en parle demain.We will talk about it tomorrow.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English can answer with an auxiliary and nothing else — «Do you want coffee? — Yes, I do» — and that habit produces Oui, je veux, which is not a French sentence. vouloir needs an object, and if the object was du café then the object is en. The same applies to y: J'y vais, never je vais on its own.
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The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
y replaces a place or anything introduced by à: Tu vas à Paris ? — J'y vais demain. «There» is the nearest English word, and it only covers the place half.
en replaces a quantity or anything introduced by de, which includes everything that came with a partitive article: Tu veux du café ? — Oui, j'en veux. The nearest English words are «some» and «of it», and both can be left out.
That optionality is the whole difficulty. English answers a question by recycling the auxiliary and dropping the object entirely — «Do you want coffee? — Yes, I do.» French has no such construction: the verb must be repeated and the thing must be represented, so Oui, j'en veux is the shortest complete answer there is. Both pronouns stand before the verb, and with a number the number stays behind: j'en ai deux.
The verbs on this page, in every form: avoir · aller · être · parler · vouloir · penser