How do you use the French pronoun 'y'? - Easy Learning Grammar French
- y is used with verbs and phrases normally followed by à to avoid repeating the same word.
‘Je pensais à l’examen.’ – ‘Mais arrête d’y penser!’ ‘I was thinking about the exam.’ – ‘Well, stop thinking about it!’ (y replaces à in penser à quelque chose)‘Je ne m’attendais pas à ça.’ – ‘Moi, je m’y attendais.’ ‘I wasn’t expecting that.’ – ‘Well, I was expecting it.’ (y replaces à in s’attendre à quelque chose)
- y can also mean there. It can be used to replace phrases that would use prepositions such as dans (meaning in) and sur (meaning on).
Elle y passe tout l’été. She spends the whole summer there.Regarde dans le tiroir. Je pense que les clés y sont. Look in the drawer. I think the keys are in there.
- y usually comes BEFORE the verb.
Comment fait-on pour y aller? How do you get there?N’y pense plus. Don’t think about it any more.
- In orders and instructions telling someone to do something, y comes AFTER the verb is are attached to it with a hyphen (-).
Restez-y. Stay there.
- y comes AFTER other direct or indirect object pronouns.
Je m’y attendais. I was expecting it.
How do you use French subject pronouns? How do you know when to use 'tu' or 'vous' in French? When do you use the French subject pronouns 'il/elle', 'ils/elles' and 'on'? How do you use French direct object pronouns? What is the word order with direct object pronouns in French? How do you use indirect object pronouns in French? What are the emphatic pronouns in French? When do you use French emphatic pronouns? What are the possessive pronouns in French? How do you use the French pronoun 'en'?How do you use the French pronoun 'y'? How do you use different types of French pronoun together? What are the indefinite pronouns in French? How do you use the relative pronouns 'qui' and 'que' in French? How do you use the relative pronoun 'lequel' in French? How do you use the relative pronoun 'dont' in French? How do you use the demonstrative pronoun 'ce' in French? How do you use the demonstrative pronouns 'cela', 'ça' and 'ceci' in French? How do you use the demonstrative pronoun 'celui' in French?
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