Do you know why the pronoun was named that way? Actually, because it is used instead of a name. It is used as a substitute for a noun, proper or common noun. In French there are many of them:
- percussive and unaccented;
- direct and indirect;
- acting as the subject;
- possessive;
- relative;
- uncertain;
- negative and interrogative.
Today we will look at reflexive pronouns en And y.
EN
So, personal pronoun en coincides in form with the adverbial particle and can be translated as “ from there». En replaces a noun with a preposition de, indefinite nouns and phrases de cela.
Je suis sûr de ta victoire. J' en suis sûr. - I am confident of your victory. I'm confident in her.
Nous parlons de nos projets. Nous en parlons. - We are talking about our plans. We talk about them.
En Est-il satisfait? - Is he satisfied with this?
J'ai des fl eurs. J' en ai cinq. — I have flowers. I have five of them.
As-tu un appartment? — Oui, j' en ai un. — Do you have an apartment? - Yes, there is one.
Combien de fi lms avez-vous vu cette semaine? — Nous en avons vus trois. — How many films did you watch this week? — We looked at three (of them).
A-t-elle des allumettes? - Non, elle n' en a pas. - Does she have any matches? - No, no.
Avez-vous des enfants? — Oui, j' en ai deux. - Do you have children? - Yes, I have two of them.
Negation is placed before en and after the verb. For example:
Vous avez des brioches? — Non, je n"en ai pas. — Do you have brioche ( bun)? - No, no.
Vous avez un stylo? — Non, je n"en ai pas. — Do you have a pen? - No, no.
Here are a few examples when en acts as a particle:
Quand viens-tu de Paris? -J' en viens dans quinze jours. — When do you arrive from Paris? - I'll arrive in two weeks.
A quelle heure sors-tu de la maison? -J' en sors à sept heures et demie. — What time do you leave the house? — I leave (from there) at 7.30.
Y
Y like en and also has an identical adverbial particle, which translates as “ there», « there». Y replaces inanimate nouns with prepositions à, sur, dans, en And a cela. And with animates, stressed personal pronouns are used ( moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles).
Example:
Je pense à ma vieillesse. J' y pense. - I think about old age. I think about her.
But:
Je pense à ma mère. Je pence à elle. - I think about my mother. I think about her. (It would be nice to help too.) (Here we use à elle, since we are talking about an animate noun.)
Elle ne répond pas à ma lettre. Elle n' y repond pas. — She does not answer my letter. She doesn't answer him.
Nous mettons nos cahiers sur le bureau. Nous y mettons nos cahiers. — We put our notebooks on the desk. We put our notebooks on it/there.
Le chef va en France. Il y va. — The boss is going to France. He's going there.
Les étudiants vont à l'Université. Ils y vont. — Students go to university. They are going there.
When negative, turnover ne...pas surrounds both particle and verb.
Il n"y va pas- He doesn't go there
Je n"y pense pas.- I don't think so.
Il n"y en a plus.- There's nothing there.
Also, in French there are several stable phrases with pronouns en And y. In such combinations, it is sometimes difficult to decipher the veiled meaning, so we recommend immediately memorizing them in full:
J'en ai assez.- I've had enough. I'm tired of it.
Voilà où en sont les choses.- This is the situation / how things are.
C'en est fait!- It's over, it's over; decided.
En arrive à…- get to the point where...
Ne pas en croire ses yeux / ses oreilles- don’t believe your eyes/ears
En être à se demander- ask yourself a question
S'en faire pour qn- worry, worry about smb.
En finir avec qch- to finish with smth.
En vouloir à…- get angry
Il y a beaucoup d'animaux exotiques dans le parc zoologique.— There are many exotic animals in the zoo.
Y a pas!- Nothing can be done!
J'y suis!- Understood! Moved in! Got it!
Ça y est!- Ready! Exactly! This is true!
N'y etre pour rien- have nothing to do with smth.
S'y connaître en qch- to be good at smth.
Y perdre son latin- to be lost, to be confused
Sans que rien n'y paraisse- without showing it
S'y prendre- to take up, to take on smth.
An interesting fact is that in common parlance y often replaces pronouns il, ils, lui(to him).
For example:
Y faut les bouffeurs.- Let’s eat them / deal with them.
Y dit une menterie. - He's lying.
J'y ai dit bonjour.- I said hello to him.
We hope our article was useful to you and we finally managed to solve this terrible counting puzzle en And y.
Pronouns...
In the case of French pronouns these tricky words can drink a lot of blood - in some cases it is extremely difficult to remember which pronoun replaces what, and in what order the pronouns follow each other within the same sentence. How to understand all these “he”, “us”, “to her”, “for them” in French?
In this article, we have compiled clear, concise and complete instructions on how to get rid of repeated nouns in a sentence and, with the help of pronouns, give your speech a truly French idiomaticity.
- Unstressed personal pronouns
Personal pronouns always agree in gender and number with the person or thing they replace in the sentence. These pronouns may look small and insignificant, but they instantly add completeness and conciseness to your sentence structure and show that you understand how a phrase is constructed in French according to the laws of the language.
1) Personal pronouns replacing the subjectYou came across these pronouns right away in your first French lesson, because without them it is impossible to form a single sentence, and the form of the conjugated verb depends on them. So, pronouns that take the place of subjects in a sentence:
1 l. units h. - je/j'- I
2 l. units h. - tu- You
3 l. units h. - il/elle/on- he/she
1 l. pl. h. - nous- We
2 l. pl. h. - vous- you, you
3 l. pl. h. - ils/elles- They
Jacquesétait en retard. - Ilétait en retard. ( Jacques I'm late. - He late).
2) Pronouns replacing direct objects
Je t'aime! Tu m'aimes! - I love you! you love me!
We got off to a good start, right? These two phrases are known to 99% of everyone who cares about French, but we still have to figure out the fact that they contain pronouns that replace the direct object.
So, first of all, let's look at all the pronouns in this group:
1 l. units h. - me/m'- me
2 l. units h. - te/t'- you
3 l. units h. - le/la/l’- his/her
1 l. pl. h. - nous us
2 l. pl. h. - vous- you
1 l. pl. h. - les- their
We remind you that truncated forms of pronouns (j’, m’, t’, l’) are placed when the following word begins with a vowel or silent “h”.
Je mange le gâteau. - Je le mange. (I eat cake. - I his I eat.)
Tu aimes les films français. - Tu les aimes.(You love French films. - You their love.)
Attention: a pronoun always agrees in gender and number with the noun it replaces. Yes, you have to keep an extra eye on this, but that’s how French is.
3) Pronouns replacing the indirect object
1 l. units h. - me/m'- to me
2 l. units h. - te/t'- you
3 l. units h. - lui- to him/her
1 l. pl. h. - nous- us
2 l. pl. h. - vous- to you
2 l. pl. h. - leur- to them
As you can see, these pronouns are similar to those that replace a direct object, but they perform a different function - they replace a noun in a sentence that is used with a preposition.
Attention: The pronoun system differs in 3L forms. units tsp and 3 l. pl. h.: direct objects are replaced by le/la/les, indirect objects - on lui/leur.
Examples to see this in practice:
Je demande à ma mère.- Je lui demande. (I ask my mother. - I ask her).
Je donne le cadeau aux enfants. -Je le leur donne. (I give a gift to children. - I give his them.)
Don't worry about the two pronouns in a row in the last sentence just yet—there's a great life hack at the end of this article on how to remember the correct order of pronouns in a sentence.
How do you know when to use one pronoun and when to use another? Look for an excuse. If a noun is preceded by a preposition, it is definitely an indirect object.
4) Personal stressed pronouns
It is quite possible that the first French word in your life was precisely the stressed pronoun - you could, for example, in response to the question “Qui est là?” answer “Moi!”
These pronouns serve different functions and are used in large quantities designs. Most often they appear in a sentence when it is necessary to place logical emphasis on the subject:
1 l. units h. - moi
2 l. units h. - toi
3 l. units h. - lui/elle/soi
1 l. pl. h. - nous
2 l. pl. h. - vous
3 l. pl. h. - eux/elles
There are a total of 11 ways to use stressed pronouns in a sentence, let’s look at the most common ones:
- After C'est or Ce sont.
C'est toi Qui laves la salle de bain. - You are cleaning the bathroom. - When a sentence has several subjects - a noun and a pronoun or two pronouns.
Michel et moi avons fait du shopping. - Michelle and I went shopping. - When a question is asked.
Je suis content, et toi? - I'm happy, and you? - After prepositions.
chez lui, sans elle- at his home, without her - In comparative designs.
Nous sommes plus rapides qu’ eux. - We are faster than them. - When indicating ownership.
Cette tarte est à elle. - This pie belongs to her.
That's it, you can get out of the way and move on to the most interesting part.
5) Reflexive pronouns
Let's finish the conversation about personal pronouns with reflexive pronouns and the verbs with which they are used. To everyone whose native language is Russian, reflexive verbs seem redundant and illogical. But in French they are common, and if you forget about the reflexive particle, you can completely distort the meaning of the entire sentence.
Me, te, se, nous, vous, se- reflexive pronouns that are part of reflexive verbs:
se laver - to wash oneself
se casser - break (some part of the body)
s' habiller - to dress
Pronouns change in person and number when conjugating verbs:
Je me love.
Tu te loves.
Il se love.
Nous nous lavons.
Vous vous lavez.
Ils se lavent.
Probably for the first time you can feel like a complete idiot saying out loud nous nous lavons, but reflexive pronouns always agree with the subject in gender and number, and in some cases there is such a funny coincidence in forms.
- Impersonal pronouns
6) Impersonal pronouns acting as subjects
Ce, il- analogues of the impersonal “it” in English. In general, they are interchangeable, but ce more often used in informal communication.
Examples:
Il est possible que… - It is possible that…
C'est moi. - It's me.
Il est nouveau. - This is new.
C'est fini! - It's finished!
7) Relative pronouns
These pronouns act as a link between the main and subordinate clauses in a complex sentence. There are only 5 relative pronouns, each with its own precisely limited sphere of use.
The pronoun replaces the direct object in a subordinate clause. In terms of function and use, it can be compared with “that” in English; their fundamental difference is that the English “that” can often be omitted in a sentence, while the French “que” must necessarily be present in the sentence. Compare for yourself:
Où est la chose que j'ai achetée hier? - Where is the thing I bought yesterday?
The pronoun replaces the subject of a subordinate clause and in some cases resembles the English “who”:
Je voudrais un prof qui ne donne pas de devoirs. - I would like to study with a teacher who does not assign homework.
However, the pronoun qui can also refer to inanimate objects:
Cependant, le prof donne des devoirs qui nous aident à apprendre. - However, the teacher gives us homework that helps us study.
In the last example qui refers to a noun devoirs(homework).
- Lequel/Laquelle/Lesquels/Lesquelles
These beautiful and melodious pronouns replace indirect objects with a preposition.
Attention: if a noun denotes a person, you must use the combination “preposition + qui».
French lequel in some cases it may be similar to the English “which”:
Je n'ai pas lu la letter à laquelle tu as répondu. - I did not read the letter to which you replied.
- Dont
For indirect objects with preposition de French has a separate pronoun dont, which can be compared to the English “whose” or “that”.
It is often used in sentences with a prepositional verb, such as parler de(talk about something) avoir besoin de(need something) or avoir peur de(to be afraid of something).
For example:
Le pronom dont j'ai peur! - Preposition, whom I'm afraid!
This pronoun indicates a place in space and often coincides in use with the English “where”:
C'est là où j'ai mangé hier. - This is where I ate yesterday.
It's interesting that the pronoun où may also indicate a circumstance of time:
Mercredi, c'est le jour où je pars. - Wednesday is the day I leave.
8) Adverbial pronouns
Luckily for us, French, which is generous with pronouns, in this case limited itself to only two - y And en.
Y à + noun, while en replaces a noun in combination de + noun.
These pronouns are extremely important and are used in virtually every phrase. You might already remember some stable phrases that contain these pronouns: Il y a...(analogous to the English “there is”) or J' en ai un(I have [one]). Let's see where else they live.
Let's start with examples:
Je voudrais aller à Paris. -Je voudrais y aller. (I would like to go to Paris. - I would like to go there.)
Il pense à l'été dernier. -Il y pense. (He thinks about last summer. - He thinks about it.)
This pronoun can also replace an entire sentence, which is introduced using a preposition à :
Je pence à ce que j'ai lu. -J' y pense. (I think about what I read. - I think about it.)
Attention: on at this stage It’s already easy to get confused with pronouns. Y used instead of a noun in combination à + inanimate noun. Don't confuse it with lequel, which is used as an allied word, or with lui/leur, which replace the indirect object expressed by an animate noun denoting a person.
Again, examples first:
Ma mère prepare des pâtes. -Ma mere en prepare. (Mom is preparing pasta).
Pronoun en can also act as a substitute for a noun in the combination “numeral/adverb of quantity + noun”:
Il a beaucoup de bonbons. -Il en a beaucoup. (He has a lot of sweets. - He has their many.)
Elle a deux livres.-Elle en a deux. - She has two books. - She has their two.
Attention: pronoun en must always be used when talking about the quantity of something. Yes, you can't say * J'ai un.In this form it will at best be regarded as the beginning of a sentence J'ai un...livre. To say “I have only one,” you need to insert a pronoun en: J'en ai un.
9) Indefinite pronouns
autres- other
chacun, chacune- everyone, every
certain, certaine- some, some
plusieurs- many, numerous
quelqu'un- anyone
tout- All
tous, totes- All
Attention: Most indefinite pronouns are combined with a verb in the 3 l form. units h.
LIFE HACK!
As promised, we show you a way to correctly place pronouns in a sentence. Do you know the French children's song "Frère Jacques"? Whenever you think about where to put le, and where - lui, hum to the tune of the song:
me, te, nous, vous
me, te, nous, vous
le, la, les
le, la, les
lui, leur
lui, leur
y
en
y
en
Now you can easily produce seemingly furious speeds like “ Je le lui ai donne"!
- may be a direct or indirect addition;
- replaces mainly inanimate nouns
with an indefinite or partial article ( des,du, dela):
J'ai des ennuis. - I'm in trouble.
Et qui n' en a pas? – Who doesn’t have them?
Veux-tu de la glace? — Do you want ice cream?
Oui, j' en veux bien. -Yes, I really want to.
with the indefinite article un, une:
As-tu une carte d'invitation? — Do you have an invitation card?
Oui, j' en ai une. -Yes, I have it.
Et moi, je n' en ai pas. - But I don’t have it.
In affirmative and interrogative form un/une repeats itself. In the negative, no.
with a quantitative word (noun, adverb, adjective or numeral):
Combien de boîtes de bonmbons as-tu? — How many boxes of chocolates do you have?
J' en ai cinq - I have five of them.
Marc a fait peu de fautes et Luc en a fait beaucoup. Mark made few mistakes and Luke made many.
Tu as cinq photos, et moi, je n’ en ai que deux. You have five photos, but I only have two.
with a pretext de:
Es-tu sûr de son succès? Are you confident in his/her success?
En es-tu sûr?
Est-ce qu'il a parlé de ces articles? Was he talking about these articles?
Non, il n' en a pas parlé. No, he didn't talk about them.
- replaces the infinitive:
Est-elle ravie de les voir? Is she happy to see them?
Oui, elle en est ravie. -Yes, I'm glad.
Tu as peur de perdre? Are you afraid of losing?
Oui, j' en ai peur. -Yes, I'm afraid.
- replaces an entire sentence with a preposition de:
Daniel n'est pas reçu. Sa mere en est chagrinée. Daniel was not accepted. His mom is upset.
Personne ne viendra? En êtes-vous sûr? No one will come? Are you sure about this?
- En can be an adverb of place (= from there):
Nous revenons de Bulgarie. — We are returning from Bulgaria / from there.
Nous en revenons.
A quelle heure reviendras-tu, de l’école? - What time will you return from school?
J' en reviendrai à trois heures. - I'll be back at three o'clock.
Pronoun y
- can only be an indirect addition;
- replaces an inanimate noun with a preposition à :
Nous pensons à notre voyage. — We are thinking about the journey / it.
Nous at pensons.
Est-ce que Nathalie s’intéresse à la chimie? -Is Natalie interested in chemistry?
Oui, elle s’ y interesse. -Yes, he is interested.
- replaces the whole sentence:
- Vous pourriez faire un rapport. - You could make a report.
J'y penserai. -I will think.
Y can be an adverb of place (- there), which replaces prepositional nouns à, dansen, sur, sauce … .
Je vais au Japon. - J'y vais. I'm going to Japan / there.
Depuis quand es-tu dans ce lycée! — Since when have you been at this lyceum?
J'y suis depuis l'année passée. - I've been here since last year.
Place enand y in a sentence
One pronoun en or y is placed
Before a verb in personal form:
Vous en parlerez? Will you talk about this?
Je m' y suis intéresse. I was interested in this.
N' y pensez pas! Don't think about it!
Before the infinitive:
Je viens d' en profiter
Tu dois t' y habituer.
Before voici/voila:
Veux-tu une pomme? Do you want an apple?
En voilà une très bonne. That's very good.
En or at is placed after the imperative in the affirmative form:
Parles- en! Talk about it!
Songez- y! Think about it!
Two pronouns en And at(or those, te, lui, ...) are put:
Before the verb in the following order:
Des places? - Places?
Il y en Avait beaucoup. There were a lot of them there.
Des conseils? Adviсe?
Je ne leur en ai pas donne. I didn't give it to them.
Qui va leur en parler? who will tell them about this?
Ne lui en parlez pas! Don't tell him about this!
Aidez-nous- y! Help us with this!
Parle-m' en! Tell me about it!
The French language has many features, and one of them is the impersonal construction "il y a" which is most often used to indicate where an object is located. Even if there are many objects, this phrase remains unchanged: the article indicates the plural.
Formation of the construction “Il y a”
The phrase itself consists of a personal pronoun "il", adverbs "y" and verb avoir in the 3rd person singular. Verb avoir changes depending on the time in which a particular sentence is used. This phrase may or may not be translated into Russian, for example:
Il y a un livre sur la table.— There (is) a book on the table.
Dans la ville il y a un musée.— There is a museum in the city.
As follows from the examples, turnover "il y a" can appear either at the beginning of a sentence or after the adverbial place, and after it there is usually an indefinite article (un, une, des), but the definite article and numeral can also be used.
Construction “Il y a” in interrogative sentences
In interrogative sentences, as you may have guessed, two options are possible: inversion “y a-t-il...?” or turnover “est-ce qu’il y a...?”, For example: Y a-t-il un cinéma dans la ville?— Is there a cinema in the city?
Also, do not forget that questions can also be asked using intonation.
Another possible question with this phrase is a question starting with “Qu’est-ce qu’il y a...”:
Qu'est-ce qu'il y a dans la rue?- What (is) on the street?
Qu'est-ce qu'il y a dans là-bas?- What (is) there?
Negative form of the construction “Il y a”
The negative form is also formed according to the rule already familiar to you, with the help of particles “ne…pas.”
In negative sentences after the turn "il y a" the article is not used, but a preposition is used instead de: Sur la table il n’y a pas de livre.— There is no book on the table.
Turnover "il y a" does not occur very often in French speech. It really becomes necessary when the word is added to it "ans". In this case, the turnover indicates how long ago some action was performed: Il y a 20 ans, nous sommes partis.— We left 20 years ago.
As you can see, there is a turnover here "il y a" does not indicate the location of the subject, but is an important part of the sentence.
You may be asking why you can't use the construct instead "il y a" sentences with verb "etre". It all depends on the order of words in a sentence. If the subject comes first, then you need to use a verb "etre" in other cases - "il y a".
Le journal est sur la table. - Il y a un journal sur la table. — Sur la table il y a un journal.
Lesson assignments
Exercise 1. Translate using the phrase “il y a”.
1. Pen on the table. 2. What is in the city? 3. There are no flowers in the vase. 4. Is there a pharmacy here? 5. There is a museum there. 6. There are newspapers on that shelf. 7. There is water in a glass. 8. There is a problem.
Answer 1.
1. Il y a un stylo sur la table. 2. Qu’est-ce qu’il y a dans la ville? 3. Il n'y a pas de fleurs dans le vase. 4. Est-ce qu’il y a une pharmacie? 5. Il y a un musée là-bas. 6. Il y a des journaux sur cette étagère. 7. Il y a de l'eau dans le verre. 8. Il y a un problem.
En — adverb means "from there":
Il est allé à Moscou et il en est revenu. — He went to Moscow and returned from there.
En pronoun
En is also a personal unstressed pronoun and denotes mainly objects. En replaces:
1. Noun with preposition de, serving as an object to a verb (most often inanimate):
Il apperçut la maison et s’en approcha (= s’approcha de la maison). — He saw a house and approached it.
2. Noun with preposition de, serving as an addition to a noun:
Cette expédition est bien organisée, le succès en est certain (= le succès de cette expédition). — This expedition is well organized, its success is predetermined.
3. Noun with partial article:
Mangez-vous de la soupe? - J'en mange. — Are you eating soup? - I eat it.
4. Plural noun used with the indefinite article des:
Lisez-vous des journaux? - J'en lis. — Do you read newspapers? - I read them.
5. Nouns preceded by a quantitative adverb or numeral:
Combien de cahiers avez-vous? - J'en ai deux. — How many notebooks do you have? - Two.
Quantitative adverbs:
- combien (de) - how much;
- beaucoup (de) - a lot;
- assez (de) - enough, quite;
- peu (de) - little;
- un peu (de) - a little;
- trop (de) - too much.
6. Whole sentence with the preposition de.
In this case it is equivalent demonstrative pronoun cela with the preposition de:
Vous avez bien passé vos examens. Nous en sommes très contents (= très contents de cela). — You did well in your exams. We are very pleased with this.
Y adverb
means “there”, “there”.
J'y travaille. — I work there.
J'y vais. — I'm going there.
Y pronoun
Y as a personal pronoun replaces:
1. Inanimate noun with the preposition à:
Cet appareil est très fragile, il est défendu d’y toucher (= toucher à cet appareil). — This device is very fragile and should not be touched.
2. Nouns with prepositions en, dans, sur:
Elle prit un vase et y versa de l'eau (= versa de l'eau dans le vase). — She took a vase and poured water into it.
3. Whole sentence with the preposition à.
In this case, it is equivalent to the demonstrative pronoun cela with the preposition à:
Vous me proposez de prendre part à la discussion? J'y consens (= consens à cela). — Are you inviting me to take part in the discussion? I agree to this.
Place of en and y in a sentence
En And y– pronouns are unstressed and therefore are always placed before the verb (in complex tenses - before the auxiliary verb avoir or être), except in cases where the verb is in affirmative form imperative mood (Vas-y - Go there; Occupe-t'en - Get busy with it). In this case, they follow the verb, and verbs of group 1 have 2 units. ending appears -s, If en/y come immediately after them (Parl es-en; but N'en parl e pas).
