Y and en are both pronouns that go before the verb. Y (ee) means it or there. En (awn) means some or some (of them), or of it. They replace prepositional phrases. In French, the phrases will begin with à (or any contraction of it), en, sur, sous, chez, or dans for y; and de (or any contraction of it) or a number for en. They cannot replace people unless the person is introduced with an indefinite article, partitive, number or quantity. Remember that they go before the verb, except in a command, in which they follow the verb and are connected with a hyphen. The -er verbs also add the -s they lost when forming the you (familiar) command.
Sample Sentences
| Do you want some apples? |
Voulez-vous des pommes? |
| Do you want some? |
En voulez-vous? |
| I have three sisters. |
J'ai trois sours. |
| I have three (of them). |
J'en ai trois. |
| It is in the drawer |
Il est dans le tiroir. |
| It is there. |
Il y est. |
| I am going to Detroit. |
Je vais à Détroit. |
| I am going there. |
J'y vais. |
| I am going to go to Atlanta. |
Je vais aller à Atlanta. |
| I am going to go there. |
Je vais y aller. |
| Answer the telephone! |
Répondez au téléphone! |
| Answer it! (formal) |
Répondez-y! |
| Stay there! (familiar) |
Restes-y! |
| Don't stay there! (familiar) |
N'y reste pas. |
Note: Notice y and en don't go after the verb in negative commands. Treat them like pronouns. Ne or Je plus y or en all contract to N'y (nee), J'y (zhee), N'en (nawn), and J'en (zhawn). When you have a conjugated verb plus an infinitive (vais and aller), the y or en go in between the two verbs.
To Write, to See, to Believe
Verbs take a direct object if they do not need a prepostition to connect it to the noun. Verbs that take indirect objects use prepositions after the verb. Voir-to see (vwahr) and croire-to believe (krwahr) take a direct and écrire-to write (ay-kreer) takes an indirect.
| voir-to see |
|
croire-to believe |
|
écrire-to write |
| vois (vwah) |
voyons (vwah-yohn) |
|
crois (krwah) |
croyons (krwah-yohn) |
|
écris (ay-kree) |
écrivons (ay-kree-vohn) |
| vois |
voyez (vwah-yay) |
|
crois |
croyez (krwah-yay) |
|
écris |
écrivez (ay-kree-vay) |
| voit |
voient (vwah) |
|
croit |
croient (krwah) |
|
écrit |
écrivent (ay-kreev) |
You can usually tell by using the verbs in English. We say "I see her" or "She believes him" or "He writes to them." In French, it would be "Je la vois" (direct), "Elle le croit" (direct) and "Il leur écrit." (indirect) But don't always count on English to help you out. Téléphoner (à) and Obéir (à) both take indirect objects in French but you can't tell that in English. In this case, you can tell by the à that follows the infinitive.
