Chapitre Cinq
The Adverbial Pronoun En
Exercice 5.12
The Verb Dictates the Pronoun
Le pronom adverbial “en”
In order to avoid unnecessary repetition, we use adverbial pronouns and object pronouns in our sentences to replace chunks of information that have already been identified.
French has several short words that we use to replace larger chunks of information, and it can be a bit tricky to know which word to use. It is crucial to remember that the verb determines the article that follows (as seen on the previous page) and it dictates the pronoun that replaces the chunk of information in the sentence once that information has been identified.
When we are replacing quantities or numbers + nouns (un, une, de, du, de l’, de la, or des + noun) in a sentence, we will replace the whole phrase with the adverbial pronoun en before the verb.
J’achète des fleurs chez la fleuriste.
J’en achète chez la fleuriste.
Est-ce que tu as des animaux domestiques ?
Oui, j’en ai. J’en ai beaucoup.
Exercice 5.12
I buy some flowers at the flower shop.
I buy them (some) at the flower shop.
Do you have any pets?
Yes, I do (have some). I have a lot (of them).
There's no sugar?
Yes, there is (some).
Do you drink lots of water?
Yes, I drink lots (of it).
