En for “people”

Rania I.B2Kwiziq community member

En for “people”

Here it says that En can’t be used for people but I have heard it in the following context: Tu as des enfants, oui j’en ai trois. In this case en is referring to people? 

Asked 1 year ago
CélineKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Bonjour Rania,

You can use the pronoun "en" to replace people with "avoir" - although they are considered as a quantity.

Take a look here - which describe this exact point : En with quantities = Of them (French Adverbial Pronouns)

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Yes, there are situations where en is used for people, but it is mostly in a familiar register of French, not literary French.

Michele P.C1Kwiziq community member

I think it refers to a 'quantity' here, i.e. I have three [of them].  I'm also struggling with y and en, even after reviewing the lessons on both!

En for “people”

Here it says that En can’t be used for people but I have heard it in the following context: Tu as des enfants, oui j’en ai trois. In this case en is referring to people? 

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