Y: “there”, and “to it”
Each example shows the full sentence first, then the short version with y. Every word has its English meaning underneath.
For people, use the indirect pronouns lui and leur instead: Je réponds à Paul → je lui réponds. With penser à, a person keeps à and a stressed pronoun: je pense à elle, I’m thinking of her.
En: “some”, “of it”, “from there”
En has four jobs. The most important is quantity: when you replace a noun after a number or an amount word, en takes the noun’s place and the number stays at the end. English can say “I have two”; French must say “I of-them have two”.
Where y and en go
Both pronouns go directly before the verb they belong to. Choose a sentence type to see how the position changes.
When y or en appears with another pronoun, it always comes last: Je lui en ai parlé (I told him about it), Il y en a (there are some). Y comes before en.
Set phrases you will hear every day
Some of the most frequent expressions in French are built with y and en. Learn them as whole units.
Planning a weekend
Two friends talk about a trip. Y is in blue and en in red. Every word has its English meaning underneath.
Il y en a: y and en together
When both appear, y always comes before en. The most common combination by far is il y en a (there is some, there are some).
Vas-y ! Prends-en ! In commands
In a positive command, y and en go after the verb with a hyphen. Verbs whose tu form ends in -a or -e get back their -s for the sound: vas-y, manges-en.