As I posted notes on " en" , I thought I should not ignore the ubiquitous " y" of the French language. It looks so innocent and lonely, but we should learn its correct usage. " y" is indeed very frequently used both in spoken and written French.
1. " y " means " there " . But it may mean other things also. Hence this post. In your elementary French course, you were bombarded with sentences containing the expression,"il y a " . What does it mean ? It indicates the existence of anything ,persons,matter,ideas etc.In short EXISTENCE.
Il y a un arbre devant ma maison.
There is a tree before my house.
Il y a des arbres près de ma maison.
There are trees near my house.
So,il y a = there is or there are
Hope you got it.
Il n' y a pas d' arbres près de ma maison.
There are no trees near my house.
Il n' y a pas de pain .
There is no bread.
Il n' y a pas d' eau chez moi.
There is no water in my place.
Note that in negative constructions ,
the nouns are always preceded by de or d' and not by du, des, de la etc.
Y a-t-il quelqu'un ?
Is there any one?
Note the hyphens and also " t" introduced for euphony.
So,
Il ya de l'espoir ? N'est-ce pas?
There is some hope. Isn't it ?
2. " y" is an indirect object pronoun that precedes the verb.It usually replaces an inanimate object ( thing or idea ) . The object is indirect because in the noun form it is preceded by a preposition , usually ," à" . But there may be other prepositions also. Now study these examples.
Elle va à Chandigarh
Elle y va.
She goes to Chandigarh .
She goes there.
So in this context,
Y = there = à Chandigarh .
Nous habitons la France.
Nous y habitons .
We live in France.
We live there.
In this context,
Y = there= la France
Mon stylo est sur la table.
Mon stylo y est.
My pen is on the table.
My pen is there.
In this context,
Y=there=sur la table.
Got it?
Les enfants jouent dans le jardin.
Les enfants y jouent.
Children play in the garden.
Children play there.
In this context,
Y = there = dans un jardin
Please note that the noun in these cases are preceded by à,sur and dans. It is not necessary that it should be always à. Moreover , in one example, " la France " was not preceded by any preposition , as the verb " habiter" is used transitively.
3. Many French verbs take indirect objects through the preposition ,"à". All the nouns introduced by ,"à" can be replaced by , " y" except living beings. Study the following examples.
Je réponds à ta lettre.
J'y réponds .
I am replying to your letter.
I am replying to it.
In this context,
Y=to it = à ta lettre.
Suppose you say,
Je réponds à ma mère .
Je lui réponds .
In this context, as the indirect object is a person , we replace it with " lui" and not y. Please understand this clearly.
Lui = to him,to her =à ma mère . But this rule is not followed in respect of verbs like penser,croire,se fier,
S'intéresser à etc. On this I shall explain in the subsequent post.For the time being , study the following examples.
Elle a renoncé à son voyage.
Elle y a renoncé .
Vous n'avez pas répondu à ma question .
Vous n'y avez pas répondu .
Elle essaie de réussir à ses examens difficiles.
Elle essaie d'y réussir .
Why did I give the above examples ?
Please note carefully the position of " y" in each case. When you have a composite tense like passé composé, " y" sits before the auxiliary verb.
Again when " y" is replacing the indirect object of the verb in the infinitive form , it is put before the infinitive. So you should be very careful to know to which verb the indirect object belongs when there are several verbs. By practice , you will understand better.
4. The verb " penser"
I told you " y" is used normally for things and ideas.
But this verb penser is an exception.
Observe
Pensez-vous à votre mère ?
Oui, j'y pense.
French is a tricky language like English. Plethora of rules and plethora of exceptions. Learn gradually.
Even French nationals commit several mistakes. I am not touching several expressions involving " y" .That is reserved for another occasion .
IMPORTANT ADVICE
There are several verbs of the following form
Verb + à + nom
Kindly make a list. Use them in your sentences and replace the indirect object with ," y". If you do it,
you are sure to master these verbs and usage of " y". You can face your students with more confidence and it will enable you to improve your written French. After several years of schooling , students are not able to write few sentences without mistakes. That should not be.
Voilà c'est tout pour aujourd'hui .
A bientôt
Sayee Jayaraman
25/02/2015
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