Monday, 8 July 2013

Le pronom personnel "y"

Bonjour à tout le monde!

I am still enjoying my holidays and still have time for this blog. Hurray! Today, I am going to talk about "y".

I bet all beginners, even absolute beginners, have used or at least come across, "il y a..." meaning "there is / are". "Y" is a commonly-used personal pronoun (well... right... all pronouns are commonly used...). So what are the uses of "y"?

1. Pour remplacer un lieu (For replacing a place)

ex. Tu travailles à Paris?
Oui, j'y travaille. / Non, je n'y travaille pas.

"Y" here replaces "à Paris". It should be placed in front of the verb. When you make a negative sentence, "ne ... pas" is used and "ne" should be put before "y".

2. Pour remplacer à + un nom / un groupe de mots (For replacing à + a noun / a noun group)

ex. Tu penses souvent à la retraite?
Oui, j'y pense. / Non, je n'y pense pas.

In this example, "y" replaces "à la retraite".

It seems that "y" is less tricky than "en" (well, I think so...) and I will go back to "en" next time.

Merci et à demain!

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