Adverbial Pronouns

Adverbial pronouns in French can seem very challenging for the learners. Let us explain them in plain English.

Usage of the Adverbial Pronouns

Rule 1: The adverbial pronouns en, y come:

- before the conjugated verb

- before the conjugated auxiliary verb in passé composé or plus que parfait

- before the infinitive

Adverbial Pronoun En

Rule 2: The adverbial pronoun en replaces:

- a place that begins with the preposition de.

- an object, a thing preceded by du, de la, de l’, des or a quantity (e.g. un, deux, un peu de, beaucoup de, ...).

- elements of the group when they are divided.

Note! Be careful, you cannot replace people with en - you have to use the personal pronoun in that case.

Adverbial Pronoun Y

Rule 3: The adverbial pronoun y replaces:

- a place that begins with a preposition other than "de" (e.g. à, dans, chez, en, sur).

- an object or a thing preceded by à.