#Zeno

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arctic jacinthBOT
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daring shadow
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Salut

vital echo
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salut

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I know the basics

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for example

limpid palm
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En replaces any object under « de »
Y replaces any object under « à »

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J’ai besoin de ses pommes —> J’en ai besoin
(I have need of his/her apples —> I have need of it/them)
Je m’habitue à cette maison —> Je m’y habitue
(I’m getting used to this house —> I’m getting used to it/them)

vital echo
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Ahh yes

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and we can not use it with the person?

limpid palm
vital echo
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Tu parles à Riley --> t'y parles ---- this is incorrect?

limpid palm
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Nope

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Incorrect

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Tu lui parles

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For « de » luckily any instance of a living object is just replaced by a stressed pronoun

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J’ai besoin de mes amis = J’ai besoin d’eux

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For « à » that’s where it gets tricky

vital echo
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I see

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je vis à Montréal -> j'y vis ?

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is it correct?

limpid palm
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Though that’s another use of Y

daring shadow
limpid palm
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Tu parles le français ? Oui, je le parle

daring shadow
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Mais pas « Tu parles avec Zeno? Oui, je le parle » ? Seulement « je lui parle »

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Hmmm d’accord peut être je peux essayer comprends y/en

limpid palm
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Because avec’s not one of those replaceable prepositions

daring shadow
limpid palm
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Tu parles à Zeno ? Oui, je lui parle

limpid palm
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It doesn’t give info

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J’ai besoin d’une pomme = J’en ai besoin
J’ai besoin de deux pommes = J’en ai besoin

daring shadow
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Hmm.

Tu as mangé de les pâtes? Oui, j’en ai mangé

limpid palm
daring shadow
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Yaaaay

limpid palm
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des pâtes but yes

daring shadow
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Jsp pourquoi je le dis

limpid palm
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Contractions do take a while to get used to

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Oh and Riley

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In French, the preposition always follows the object it’s modifying so in your earlier question on « tu demandes à qui », that à will always be there before qui

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À qui demandes-tu ?
À qui est-ce que tu demandes ?
Tu demandes à qui ?

daring shadow
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I’ll probably forget again but this will begin my remembering journey

limpid palm
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In English, we don’t really have this requirement which is why we can say, ‘What are you listening to?’ And we’d understand that

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In French, c’est pas bon

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If we make the preposition move with the object it sounds fancy/old-timey but that’s absolutely how you do it in French

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À qui parles-tu ?
To who(m) do you speak?

daring shadow
daring shadow
limpid palm
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J’y suis

daring shadow
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Oo okay

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So m is not necessary

limpid palm
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But that’s an extension I would say

limpid palm
daring shadow
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Was just in your context

daring shadow
limpid palm
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That’s just because the verb is pronominal

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s’habituer à qqch

vital echo
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I got it

limpid palm
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A non pronominal example would be

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Erm

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satisfaire à qqch
(satisfy/fulfil something)

daring shadow
daring shadow
limpid palm
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J’ai déjà satisfait aux demandes nécessaires => J’y ai déjà satisfait (I’ve already satisfied the necessary demands)

vital echo
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I believe except living objects we can replace à with Y

daring shadow
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J’aime manger de pain. Jaime en manger.

daring shadow
limpid palm
# daring shadow The y?

Yeah because here, the « à » actually belongs to the location « à Paris ». Because of that, « à » can also replace prepositions that describe going to/staying at a location even if said prepositions aren’t « à ».
Ex:
Je vais en France = J’y vais
Je vais dans le parc = J’y vais

limpid palm
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The pronoun sits behind the verb it belongs to

daring shadow
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Ok I like them to eat

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Well

limpid palm
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Je veux l’aimer (I want to love him/her) for example

daring shadow
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I like them—to eat

limpid palm
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Not je le veux aimer

daring shadow
vital echo
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j'en ai mangé

limpid palm
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I couldn’t think of another example

daring shadow
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So it’s like « le » but not for people?

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Well it’s placed like it

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And you connect it with Je because of the vowel

limpid palm
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le is there because it replaces a direct object

daring shadow
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Je en porte

J’en porte

limpid palm
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lui/leur, y, en all replace an indirect object

daring shadow
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But it is a specific object though

limpid palm
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So in some cases you’ll have le/la/les, in some cases lui/leur

daring shadow
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That was ´mentioned before

limpid palm
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Or even y/en if the object is inanimate

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Je prends le plat = Je le prends
J’ai pris les câbles = Je les ai pris

daring shadow
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So I never fully understood why « il y a » means there is. I’m going to try to break this down.

« it them has »

Nope. Hahahahah

« It at has »

Okay that makes slightly more sense.

It has the experience of being at

It is. There is

vital echo
limpid palm
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So there’s something you should know

limpid palm
daring shadow
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But understanding why it means that

limpid palm
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Hold on

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I gotta pull out the laptop for this

daring shadow
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Like Bonjour is good day

And est-ce que (are) is « is this that »

vital echo
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Bear will gonna charge us money I guess kek

limpid palm
# daring shadow But understanding why it means that

Okay so originally, the word that ended up as French avoir slowly became to be used as an existential statement. Existential statements are phrases that you use to indicate the existence or presence of something. To separate the usual use of avoir meaning 'to have' and to add emphasis on it being an existential statement, the word y originally meaning 'there' is added

daring shadow
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Ooo

limpid palm
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The English equivalent is also like this: 'to be' was used as an existential statement so to stress that existentialness, English added the word there

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That's why we say 'There is a car'

daring shadow
limpid palm
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So English and French are the same, they just differ on the verb

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French uses avoir (English to have), English uses to be (French être)

daring shadow
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Hmm ok. Thanks!

limpid palm
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Because it takes like

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10 minutes, maybe 15?

daring shadow
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😂

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Mon étudiant disais comment français est plus longue qu’anglais sur les boites de céréales

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Il n’aime pas français

limpid palm
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Mais c'est beaucoup plus facile en fait, du moins quand on parle de questions

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Way simpler than English do-support

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Anyway, I'll just jump into it

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French asks questions using inversions. Inversion is when you flip the order of the subject and verb. So, instead of « Je le vois », you say « Le vois-je ? ». Do note that what we're doing is just putting the subject in front of the verb. If there's an adverb, the subject goes before it: « Je le vois beaucoup —> Le vois-je beaucoup ? »
Now, inversion has certain quirks so French innovated by creating « est-ce que ». « est-ce que » is just « c'est que (it's that) » but inverted. The logic here is thus:
(1) To the original statement, we add « c'est que », which turns the original statement into a subordinate clause:
« Je le vois —> C'est que je le vois »
(2) Because of that, when we ask a question, what we're actually inverting is the new main clause, i.e. « c'est que »
« C'est que je le vois —> Est-ce que je le vois ? »

This has the added benefit of « est-ce que » being purely something you just insert. Literally, just put « est-ce que » before the subject and you're all good.
Je le vois —> C'est que je le vois —> Est-ce que je le vois ?
Je l'ai vu —> C'est que je l'ai vu —> Est-ce que je l'ai vu ?

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If you think that's weird, English has it as well but went down a different path that makes it more complicated than French.

daring shadow
daring shadow
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But more informal

limpid palm
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Though it gets slightly more complicated when we introduce question words

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and only with « que/quoi »