Question

French Tutorial: y et en

Answer 1

\({\bf{y:}}\) a pronoun used to replace prepositional phrases about locations

Placement:
Before the conjugated verb (single-verb expressions)
Before the conjugated verb (interrogatives)
Before the infinitive (Verb + infitive constructions)

Les astronautes vont dans l'espace. Ils y font de grandes découvertes.
Je fais une fête ce soir. Cela m'excite à y penser. (I am having a party tonight. I am excited thinking about it.
Je connais un bon restaurant. Voulez-vous y manger? (I know a good restaurant. Do you want to eat there?)

Answer 2

\({\bf{en:}}\) a pronoun used to replace nouns modified by partitive articles and indefinite articles. used for quantities/quantitative nouns.

Placement: Before the action verb

Avez-vous de l'eau? Oui, nous en avons. (Do you have any water? Yes, we have some.)
Avons-nous du pain? Non, nous n'en avons pas. (Do we have any bread left? No, we do not have any.)
Avez-vous des chiens? Oui, j'en ai trois. (Do you have any dogs? Yes, I have three.)

Additional Considerations:

- Affirmative vs. Negative Responses with un or une: Let's say we have an interrogative with un/une

Est-ce qu'il enseigne une classe ici? (Does he teach a class here?)
In affirmative responses with en, repeat un/un in the answer. In the negative response, do not.

Oui, il en enseigne une.
Non, il n'en enseigne pas. (notice how une is not in this sentence)

- Affirmative vs. Negative Responses with quantity modifiers: Let's say we have an interrogative with a noun that has some quantity related modifier before it. ex:
beaucoup d'amour, un kilo de briques, etc.

A-t-elle beaucoup de vêtements? (Does she have a lot of clothes?)

For affirmative responses, do not repeat the de/d' + noun from the original sentence, but do keep the quantity (this is easier to see in an example)

Oui, elle en a beaucoup. (keep beaucoup, drop de vêtements)

In the negative form, en is closer in meaning to "any".
ex: Non, elle n'en a pas. (No, she does not have any)

- verb + de/d' + noun constructions
en replaces de/d' + the noun

ex: A-t-il rêvé de sa maison? Oui, il en rêvait. (Did he dream about his house? Yes, he dreamed about it.)

Answer 3

\({\bf{References:}}\)

Rochester, Myrna B. Easy French Step-by-Step, United States, McGraw-Hill Education, 2009, 199-203.

https://www.talkinfrench.com/french-pronoun-en-y-use-grammar/

CollinsDictionary for French and English translations

Forvo (https://forvo.com/), a French pronunciation database with samples from native French speakers