En can replace de + phrase (adverbial pronoun)

In: Level B1, Pronouns, Préposition, Pronom adverbial
Questions: 17

Look at these sentences with the pronoun en:

Je viens de Paris. - J'en viens aussi !
I come from Paris. - I come from there too!

Que penses-tu de cette exposition ? - J'en pense le plus grand bien !
What do you think of this exhibition? - I think very highly of it.

Je m'occupe de mes problèmes. Je m'en occupe.
I'm dealing with my problems. I'm dealing with them.

 -> Note that en can replace plural things too.

Elle a besoin de vacances. Elle en a besoin.
She needs holidays. She needs them.

 

Notice that en as a pronoun can replace phrases introduced by the preposition de + [thing]/[object]/[location] (but not people), particularly with verbs that require de.  
In such cases, you cannot replace the noun alone with a pronoun, you must replace the whole de + [noun] group with en.

ATTENTION:

In the case of de + [people], the preposition de remains and is followed by a stress pronoun (moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles) replacing and agreeing with the noun:

Tu te moques de Paul et Daniel. - Non, je ne me moque pas d'eux !
You're mocking Paul and Daniel. - No, I'm not mocking them!

J'ai besoin de ma mère tous les jours. - J'ai besoin d'elle aussi.
I need my mother every day. - I need her too.

Learn more about these related French grammar topics

Préposition

Pronom adverbial

Examples and resources

Il se sert de ses outils. - Je m'en sers aussi.
He's using his tools. - I'm using them too.

Tu joues de la trompette. -  Tu en joues.
You play trumpet.  -  You play (it)

J'ai besoin de ma mère tous les jours. - J'ai besoin d'elle aussi.
I need my mother every day. - I need her too.

Je mange de la purée.  -  J'en mange.
I'm eating mash.  -   I'm eating some.

Tu te moques de Paul et Daniel. - Non, je ne me moque pas d'eux !
You're mocking Paul and Daniel. - No, I'm not mocking them!

Elle a besoin de vacances. Elle en a besoin.
She needs holidays. She needs them.

Que penses-tu de cette exposition ? - J'en pense le plus grand bien !
What do you think of this exhibition? - I think very highly of it.

Je m'occupe de mes problèmes. Je m'en occupe.
I'm dealing with my problems. I'm dealing with them.

Je viens de Paris. - J'en viens aussi !
I come from Paris. - I come from there too!

J'ai des chocolats.  -  J'en ai.
I've got chocolates.  -  I've got some.

Q&A

Marnie

Kwiziq community member

17 December 2018

3 replies

en ...add footnote?

Would it be possibe to add a note addressing the use of “en” in this sentance? “Je voulais en savoir plus de cet artiste ensorcelant.”  I understand why “en” replaces but not the underpinning of this structure where it is not referring to a previous subject and where the object is wtitten out.  This part of the lesson on “en” is probablt covered in another lesson covering other aspects of the use of “en” but not here....

Chris

Kwiziq community member

18 December 2018

18/12/18

"En" in this context can be thought of to stand for "of that", even though it doesn't translate very well like this.

Marnie

Kwiziq community member

18 December 2018

18/12/18

It’s the linguistic underpinning I’m after... not the “translation”.  “Je voulais en savoir plus.”. is the meaning.  I’d like to know why and when a native speaker would add “de...” after “en” has already been used in same sentence.

Chris

Kwiziq community member

18 December 2018

18/12/18

I'm afraid you're looking for an explanation where there is none. "Je voulais en savoir plus" is like an idiomatic expression. And French is a highly idiomatic language where rules seem to be there to only to justify the exceptions.

Marnie

Kwiziq community member

6 October 2018

5 replies

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

Chris

Kwiziq community member

7 October 2018

7/10/18

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

Kwiziq community member

7 October 2018

7/10/18

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

Kwiziq community member

7 October 2018

7/10/18

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

Kwiziq community member

7 October 2018

7/10/18

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

Kwiziq community member

8 October 2018

8/10/18

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. 

Ann

Kwiziq community member

30 May 2018

1 reply

In the writing challenge, the translation from english was that person dreamed of going to Paris, I translated this as y rêver thinking rêver à aller

but the answer was en rêver. Please explain why

Aurélie

Kwiziq language super star

30 May 2018

30/05/18

Bonjour Ann !

This one is quite a tricky case!

The fact is that rêver à + [quelque chose] is very rarely used, and always in a figurative context, something you're considering: 

rêver à  de futures vacances... 
but
rêver de toi

For every other case, it would be rêver de.

And to say to dream of [doing something], you'll always use rêver de [infinitif]: 

Je rêve de  faire le tour du monde.
Il rêvait d'aller en Espagne.

I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !

Andy

Kwiziq community member

3 January 2017

1 reply

Ce matin, elle en a trouvé une sous le sèche-cheveux

Hello. In the Week 29 B1 writing test, the above sentence appears as a translation for 'This morning, she found one under the hairdryer.' To begin with I was confused by the phrase appearing to have two objects. But after thinking about it could this sentence be read as: 'This morning, she found one (of them) under the hairdryer.' ~Thanks for your help

Aurélie

Kwiziq language super star

4 January 2017

4/01/17

Bonjour Andy ! Yes, that's exactly how this sentence works literally. In French, you need to mention the thing that the quantity refers to, otherwise something is missing (She found one what?). See the related lesson: https://kwiziq.learnfrenchwithalexa.com/revision/grammar/the-adverbial-pronoun-en-means-of-them-with-quantities I hope that's helpful! Bonne Année !

John

Kwiziq community member

25 April 2016

2 replies

Question from the Writing Challenge that references "en"

This lesson is referenced in the Week 1, B1 writing challenge but it does not contain information on the use of "en" in the part where the speaker says he will see places in Paris "that I've only seen in photos." The answer uses "que je n'ai vues qu'en photos." Why is en needed there? Thanks.

Gruff

Kwiziq language super star

25 April 2016

25/04/16

Salut John ! In this case, "en" is just the preposition meaning "in", not the adverbial pronoun "en". We have "ne" + "que" = "only" and the "que" has contracted with "en" which is possibly what confused you? "en photo" means "in photographic form" / "in photos". Hope that helps!

Pavlina

Kwiziq community member

2 October 2017

2/10/17

What is the diffeence between en photo and sur le photo? Merci

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