il s’en occupe tout de suite

Marnie C.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

il s’en occupe tout de suite

i answered the quizz with “of it” and “of him”.  but “of him” was wrong , yet “of them” was correct

what is the difference between ”take care of him” vs “take care of them”.  one is right, one is wrong but they both relate to ‘a person/people’ not things.

he takes care of him right away.

he takes care of them right away

he takes care of it right away

Asked 6 years ago
Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

En can't be used as a pronoun to replace people. See if these examples help:

Luc s'occupe de Jean. -- Luc s'occupe de lui. (NOT: Luc s'en occupe.)

Luc s'occupe des fleurs. -- Luc s'en occupe. Luc takes care of the flowers -- Luc takes care of them  

In the last sentence, en replaces des fleurs and "them" refers to an object, not a person. If you were taking of persons, you would need a different construction. 

Luc s'occupe de mes parents. -- Luc s'occupe d'eux. 

 

Hope that helps. 

Marnie C.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
but in this quizz, the 2 correct answers were “he takes care of it” AND “he takes care of THEM”. Given your reasoning “he takes care of THEM” is also incorrect yetbit was added to the correct answer and my “he takes care of him” was marked wrong.  Isn’t “He Takes care of THEM” just as wrong as “he takes care of HIM”?
Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

If you read my previous post again, I did include an example using "them" referring to flowers. Since flowers aren't people, the use of "en" is OK.

Il s'occupe de ses grand-parents. Il s'occupe d'eux. -- He takes care of them (grand parents)
Il s'occupe des fleurs. Il s'en occupe. -- He takes care of them (the flowers).

Marnie C.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

i did read your previous post.  your example does not have any relevance to the example in the quizz which didnt specify whether or not ‘en’ was supposed to rever to inanimate objects or humans. It’s the specific quizz question that i am querying.

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Well "en" cannot refer to persons, therefore there's no need to specify whether it refers to objects or persons. Since "them" in English can refer to objects, it is a possible translation for the sentence in question. Just think it through. 
Dennis S.C1Kwiziq community member

Thanks, Chris, for your excellent answer to Marnie's question. I was wondering the same thing. It makes sense that "them" can refer to things or people. Your examples were particularly useful for helping me see that. :) 

il s’en occupe tout de suite

i answered the quizz with “of it” and “of him”.  but “of him” was wrong , yet “of them” was correct

what is the difference between ”take care of him” vs “take care of them”.  one is right, one is wrong but they both relate to ‘a person/people’ not things.

he takes care of him right away.

he takes care of them right away

he takes care of it right away

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