A2
y and en
How the French pronouns y and en replace prepositional phrases, when each is required, and why en is compulsory after a quantity.
Y replaces a phrase beginning with à. En replaces one beginning with de. Both go before the verb, like any other object pronoun.
y — there, to it
Tu vas à Paris ? — Oui, j’y vais demain.
you go to Paris — yes, I-there go tomorrow
Are you going to Paris? — Yes, I’m going tomorrow.
J’y pense souvent.
I of-it think often
I think about it often.
Penser à takes y, which is why the second example uses it where English says about it.
en — of it, some of it
Tu veux du café ? — Oui, j’en veux.
you want some coffee — yes, I of-it want
Do you want coffee? — Yes, I’d like some.
Il en parle tout le temps.
he of-it speaks all the time
He talks about it all the time.
en is compulsory with a number
English drops the noun and leaves the number alone. French cannot.
Combien de frères as-tu ? — J’en ai deux.
how-many of brothers have-you — I of-them have two
How many brothers have you got? — I’ve got two.
J’ai deux.
J’en ai deux.
J’ai deux is unfinished — two of what? En stands in for the noun, and it stays even though English drops everything.
They save you from repeating a phrase
Both are used far more than their English equivalents, because French dislikes repeating a full prepositional phrase and has no habit of simply leaving it out.
Elle en a besoin.
she of-it has need
She needs it.
Avoir besoin de — so en. Learning the verb with its preposition is what tells you which pronoun it will take.
Not the same y as il y a
Il y a is a fixed phrase and is not this pronoun doing a job — see il y a.