Using "y" with affirmative commands (L'Impératif)

Bonjour Joakim !

No, in French you always need to use the verb "aller" with a location = to go *somewhere*.
When in English you can simply imply "where you're going" (I'm going now), in French you have to express it, if only with "y" (J'y vais maintenant).
I've now added a note in the lesson to explain this :)

I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !

But in La Marseillaise the line goes "Allons enfants de la patrie". No "y" there. Is that bad, or obsolete, usage?

But in La Marseillaise the line goes "Allons enfants de la patrie". There is no "y". So is that obsolete or incorrect usage?

Bonjour David !

Yes, in the case of La Marseillaise, it's linked to the fact that here, the "cry" is not so much related to a specific destination as to the impetus to go forward.
Note however that the use of the nous form in particular is definitely antiquated :)

In a similar way, you can use "Allez !", as a supporter chant for example, which in English would be closer to "Come on!"  :)

Bonne journée !

Il y a

Bonjour Susan !

What do you mean here? Do you have a specific example?

Bonjour Chris !

In terms of meaning, "on y va" and "allons-y" are used very similarly.
However, "on y va" is in Le Présent Indicatif, which means it's a simple, declarative sentence: "We're going". This sentence CAN be emphasised with an exclamation mark "On y va !" -> "We're going!", expressing excitement, and in some cases be translated as "Let's go!").
As for "Allons-y !", it is in L'Impératif Présent, which expresses commands and advice, and is the literal translation of "Let's go!".

Here, we were specifically expecting the use of L'Impératif. Thanks to your question, we've now added a hint to remove any anbiguity ;)

I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !

Hi Sheldon - thanks for asking this.

I've added links in the lessons now between the two use cases for "y" and "en" with affirmative commands so you can compare them.

You may also find it useful to know that in any of our lessons you can generally see related lessons listed on the lower right even if they're not listed within the leson. Also, the links under the "Jargon Buster" will take you to the glossary where you can see other lessons appearing under the same area of grammar.

"y" and "en" are called Adverbial Pronouns and they're used in various additional situations: https://kwiziq.learnfrenchwithalexa.com/revision/glossary/pronoun-type/adverbial-pronouns

Hope that helps!