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Y et En

 

 

• A direct object receives the direct action of the verb in a sentence without an intervening preposition.

 

• Direct object nouns can be replaced with direct object pronouns.

 

• Direct object pronouns in French:

   Singular                                              Plural

 

1st person me (m’)                        nous

 

2nd person te (t’)                             vous

 

3rd person le/la (l’)                          les

 

 

• An indirect object is preceded by the preposition à.

 

EX. Il offre un cognac à ma soeur.

 

• When the indirect object is a person, it can be replaced by an indirect object pronoun.

 

EX. Il lui offre un cognac.

 

• The indirect object pronouns in French:

 

                                        Singular                   Plural

           

            1st person       me (m’)                      nous

 

            2nd person      te (t’)                          vous

 

            3rd person      lui                                leur

 

• There are 3 main rules that govern the use of the direct and indirect object pronouns in French.

 

1. The pronoun PRECEDES THE VERB of which it is the object, UNLESS the verb is an affirmative imperative.

 

Ex. Ma soeur les suit au poste. (My sister follows them to the station.)

 

Elle leur explique ce qui est arrivé. (She explained to them what happened.)

 

1. If the verb is an affirmative imperative, the object pronoun follows the verb and is connected to it by a hyphen.

 

Ex. Suivez-les au poste! (Follow them to the station!)

 

Demandez-lui pourquoi elle conduit mal. (Ask her why she drives poorly.)

 

1. If the verb is a compound tense (Passe compose, past conditional, pluperfect, etc.), the pronoun PRECEDES the auxiliary verb. The past participle agrees with the direct object pronoun in gender and in number.

 

Ex. On a gardé ma mere au poste de police pendant dix heures. (They kept my mom at the police station for 10 hours.)

 

Pronoun Y

 

• The pronoun Y can be used to replace the preposition à + a noun when referring to thing or idea but not when referring to a person.

 

Ex. Y a-t-elle répondu? (Did she respond to it?)

 

• The pronoun Y is also used to replace expressions of location starting with à or other prepositions, EXCEPT de.

 

Ex. Elle y va avec le directeur? (She is going there with the director.)

 

• Y precedes the verb with which it is associated.

 

Ex. Elle est obligée d’y aller. (She has to go there.)

 

• Y is not used with the verb aller in the future or conditional tenses.

 

 

Pronoun En

 

• The pronoun en is used in French to express the idea of some, any, or none. It can replace:

 

1. The partitive article + the noun that follows

 

Ex. Elle en boit. (She drinks some.)

 

1. A noun preceded by a number or an expression of quantity, but the number orexpression of quantity must be repeated.

 

Ex. Elle en voit un devant sa voiture. (She sees one in front of her car.)

 

1. The preposition de in expressions with avoir + the verb or noun clause that follows.

 

Ex. Elle en avait peur. (She was afraid of it.)

 

1. The preposition de + a place.

 

Ex. Elle en sort. (She gets out (of a place)).

 

1. The preposition de + a clause.

 

Ex. Elle en est contente.(She is happy about it.)

 

• Note: En can’t be used to replace the preposition de + a person. But it can be used with de + a group of people.