Indirect Object Pronoun with Y

Aashpreet K.A1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Indirect Object Pronoun with Y

Q1) Isn't this correct?

Vous m'y avez parlé. [You spoke to me there.]     (Parler à)

Q2) Isn't the scenario of Indirect Object Pronoun/COI with Adverbial Y possible? If not, why?? 

Q3) And similarly, vice-versa the scenario of Direct Object Pronoun/COD with Adverbial En is also not possible?? Hence, is it a rule that it will always be [COD + y] and [COI + en] in Double Pronouns??

Asked 6 months ago
Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Q1) Vous m'y avez parlé is correct. However, the pronoun y does not refer to parler à but to the implied à used to specify the location ("there"). Without the pronoun y, the sentence could be, e.g.,

Vous m'avez parlé à l'école. -- You spoke to me at school.

 

Q2) Do you mean a sentence like:

Vous avez parlé à la directrice à l'école. -- You spoke to the headmistress at school.

This sentence transforms to: 

Vous lui y avez parlé. -- You spoke to her there.

However, this sounds a bit strange to French ears and you'd probably hear this version more often:

Vous lui avez parlé là-bas. -- You spoke to her there.

 

Q3) Take the sentence below as an example. It contains a COD (les) and a COI introduced by de (des nouvelles):

Je les informe des nouvelles. -- I inform them about the news.
Je les en informe. -- I informe them of it.

 

Aashpreet K.A1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

That's a great explanation. Thank you very much Chris!!

Indirect Object Pronoun with Y

Q1) Isn't this correct?

Vous m'y avez parlé. [You spoke to me there.]     (Parler à)

Q2) Isn't the scenario of Indirect Object Pronoun/COI with Adverbial Y possible? If not, why?? 

Q3) And similarly, vice-versa the scenario of Direct Object Pronoun/COD with Adverbial En is also not possible?? Hence, is it a rule that it will always be [COD + y] and [COI + en] in Double Pronouns??

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