Listen to two French speakers having a normal conversation and count how many times you hear en and y (pronounced "ee"). It'll be roughly once a sentence.

Listen to most intermediate French learners and count the same. Often zero.

That gap is the single most reliable tell that someone's "stuck at intermediate", and closing it is one of the highest-leverage things you can do for your spoken French.

Both pronouns replace something to avoid repeating it. Both go before the verb. The rule for which one to use is mechanical, not stylistic.

En: replaces de + [noun] or a quantity

Use en whenever you'd otherwise repeat a noun introduced by de, du, de la, des, or a number/quantity word.

The three jobs of en

1. Replaces de + [noun] (a "partitive" or quantity)

Tu veux du café ?, Oui, j'en veux. (Want some coffee?, Yes, I want some.)

J'ai acheté des pommes ce matin. J'en ai mangé trois. (I bought apples this morning. I ate three of them.)

en here is replacing du café in the first example and des pommes in the second. English usually drops the equivalent ("yes, I want"), French keeps it ("yes, I want some").

2. Replaces a verb's de complement

Many French verbs take de (parler de, avoir besoin de, se souvenir de, s'occuper de, avoir peur de). When the object is a thing or idea (not a person), en replaces the whole de + … clause.

Tu te souviens de ce film ?, Oui, je m'en souviens. (Do you remember that movie?, Yes, I remember it.)

Tu as besoin d'aide ?, Oui, j'en ai besoin. (Do you need help?, Yes, I need some.)

Il parle beaucoup de son travail. → Il en parle beaucoup. (He talks about his work a lot. → He talks about it a lot.)

⚠️ If the object is a person, don't use en. Use a stressed pronoun (de lui, d'elle, d'eux) instead: Je me souviens d'elle (I remember her), not Je m'en souviens.

3. Replaces a quantity expression

After a number or a quantity word (beaucoup, un peu, trois, assez, plusieurs), en replaces the noun. The number/quantity word stays in the sentence.

Combien de livres as-tu ?, J'en ai cinq. (How many books do you have?, I have five of them.)

Tu veux du gâteau ?, Oui, j'en veux un peu. (Want some cake?, Yes, I want a little.)

Il y a des problèmes. → Il y en a beaucoup. (There are problems. → There are a lot of them.)

This is the construction native speakers use constantly. Dropping the en here doesn't sound wrong-wrong, it sounds foreign.

Y: replaces à + [thing] or a place

Use y whenever you'd otherwise repeat a place, or a noun (thing/idea, not a person) introduced by à.

The two jobs of y

1. Replaces a place

Tu vas à Paris ?, Oui, j'y vais demain. (Are you going to Paris?, Yes, I'm going there tomorrow.)

Je suis dans le jardin. → J'y suis. (I'm in the garden. → I'm there.)

Tu habites à Montréal ?, Oui, j'y habite depuis cinq ans. (Do you live in Montreal?, Yes, I've been living there for five years.)

y works with any preposition of place: à, dans, sur, chez, sous, etc. It just means "there".

2. Replaces a verb's à complement (when it's a thing)

Verbs like penser à, répondre à, réfléchir à, s'intéresser à, croire à, jouer à. When the object is a thing or idea, use y.

Tu penses à ton avenir ?, Oui, j'y pense souvent. (Are you thinking about your future?, Yes, I think about it often.)

As-tu répondu à la question ?, Oui, j'y ai répondu. (Did you answer the question?, Yes, I answered it.)

Il joue au tennis. → Il y joue tous les week-ends. (He plays tennis. → He plays it every weekend.)

⚠️ Same rule as en: if the object is a person, use a stressed pronoun (à lui, à elle, à eux) instead: Je pense à elle (I'm thinking about her), not J'y pense.

Placement: before the verb, always

Both en and y go immediately before the conjugated verb, same position as other object pronouns.

Tense Example
Présent J'en veux.
Passé composé J'en ai voulu.
Imparfait J'en voulais.
Futur J'en voudrai.
Conditionnel J'en voudrais.
Négatif Je n'en veux pas.
Question (inversion) En veux-tu ?

With infinitives, both pronouns sit before the infinitive (not before the main verb):

Je vais y aller. (I'm going to go there.) Tu peux en prendre. (You can have some.) Je voudrais en acheter. (I'd like to buy some.)

With imperatives (positive only), they attach after the verb with a hyphen:

Vas-y ! (Go!) Prends-en ! (Take some!) Allons-y ! (Let's go!)

Negative imperatives go back to before the verb: N'y va pas (Don't go there).

When you have both pronouns + others (the order)

If you have multiple object pronouns in the same sentence, French follows a strict order. en and y are the last two:

me / te / se / nous / vous → le / la / les → lui / leur → y → en

So:

Donne-le-moi. (Give it to me.) Il y en a beaucoup. (There are many [of them, there].) Je l'y ai vu. (I saw him there.) Je leur en ai donné. (I gave them some.)

The combination "y en a" (informally "y'a") is the most common pronoun stack in spoken French. You'll hear it dozens of times a day.

The classic mistakes to avoid

Mistake 1: Forgetting them entirely

❌ Oui, je veux. (Sounds incomplete to a French ear.) ✅ Oui, j'en veux.

❌ Tu vas à Paris ?, Oui, je vais. ✅ Tu vas à Paris ?, Oui, j'y vais.

Mistake 2: Using en or y for people

❌ Je pense à Marie. → J'y pense. ✅ Je pense à Marie. → Je pense à elle.

❌ Je parle de mon frère. → J'en parle. ✅ Je parle de mon frère. → Je parle de lui.

Mistake 3: Putting them after the verb in normal sentences

❌ Je veux en. ✅ J'en veux.

The "after the verb" placement only happens in positive imperatives (Vas-y, prends-en).

The decision tree

When you're about to repeat a noun and want to use a pronoun, ask:

  1. Is the noun introduced by de / du / de la / des, or is it a quantity (number, beaucoup, un peu)? → en
  2. Is it a place, or a thing introduced by à? → y
  3. Is it a person? → Stressed pronoun (de lui, à elle, d'eux, etc.), not en/y.

Why this is the highest-leverage upgrade for intermediate learners

Most learners "know" en and y (you've probably read about them). The gap isn't comprehension, it's production. You need to reach for them automatically, mid-sentence, without consciously deciding.

That takes reps. Specifically: typing out sentences where the obvious instinct is to repeat the noun, and instead substituting the pronoun. Hundreds of times.

The Bonjour Verbs app has a milestone dedicated to object pronouns, with typed-answer sentence completion that forces you to produce en / y in context, "Tu veux du café ?, Oui, j'____ veux". The reps are deliberately calibrated so that by the end, your default instinct shifts from "repeat the noun" to "drop in the pronoun".

That instinct is exactly what makes your spoken French sound French.

Browse all French verb conjugations → · Read the past participle agreement guide →