How to use the adverbial pronoun ‘en’ in French?

En is used to replace the preposition de + nounNo definition set for nounLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. in French. The French partitive article de represents an indefinite quantity and is the equivalent of “some” in English. It is often used with food:

To answer this question, you can say:

However, in English, it is more likely that you would simply reply, “Yes, I do.” In French, though, we can’t say, ❌Oui, je veux. This is when our pronoun en comes into action. The whole phrase de + noun must be replaced by en. This means that “de la salade” needs to be replaced by en.

• Tu veux de la salade ?

  Do you want some salad?

• Oui, j’en veux !

  Yes, I want some. (less literally: Yes, I do.)

This applies to all forms of the partitive article de: du, de la, des, de l'.

• On fait des gâteaux.

  We make cakes.

  →

  On en fait.

  We make some.

• Elle boit du thé le matin.

  She drinks tea in the morning.

  →

  Elle en boit le matin.

  She drinks some in the morning.

En is used to replace a number or an expression of quantity + noun in French.

• Replacing a number + noun

  Let’s imagine Juliette is an elementary school pupil who owns five felt tip pens. Her teacher would like to borrow one. Let’s take a look at the two conversations below.

  Conversation 1	Conversation 2
  Juliette, tu as combien de feutres ? Juliette, how many felt tip pens have you got?	Juliette, tu as combien de feutres ? Juliette, how many felt tip pens have you got?
  J’ai cinq feutres, maîtresse. I’ve got five felt tip pens, miss.	J’en ai cinq, maîtresse. I’ve got five, miss.
  Tu peux me prêter un feutre ? Can you lend me one felt tip pen ?	Tu peux m’en prêter un ? Can you lend me one?
  Oui, voilà un feutre ! Yes, here is one felt tip pen!	Oui, en voilà un ! Yes, here is one!

  What do you notice? Conversation 1 is very repetitive with the noun feutre, isn’t it? In conversation 2, feutre has been replaced by en and the dialogue is lighter.

  Important

  Although you replace the noun with en, you must always repeat the number:

  J’ai trois chats → J’en ai trois.

  I have three cats → I’ve got three (of them).

  ❌ J’ai trois is not correct in French. Your interlocutor will be left wondering what you are talking about: “Three what?”

  After a quantity, it is essential to either add a noun or to use en to replace the noun.

  It is, however, absolutely fine to reply to a question with a quantity on its own:

  • Tu as combien de poissons rouges ?

    How many goldfish do you have?

  • ✅ 5.

    5.

  or:

  • ✅ J’en ai 5.

    I have 5 (of them).

• Replacing an expression of quantity + noun

  Let’s look at another dialogue:

  Marcel:

  Vous voulez un peu de moutarde ?

  Do you want a little bit of mustard?

  Raphaël:

  Oui, j’en veux un peu.

  Yes, I want a little bit (of it).

  Dimitri:

  Moi, j’en veux beaucoup !

  I want a lot (of it)!

  Here we are using French adverbs of quantity: un peu de(a little bit of), beaucoup de(a lot of). Have you noticed that in the replies, the interlocutors repeat the adverb of quantity?

  The same applies to indefinite adjectives like quelques(a few) or plusieurs(several).

  Axelle a plusieurs appartements à l’étranger.

  Axelle has several flats abroad.

  →

  Elle en a plusieurs.

  She has several (of them).

  Important

  When you replace the noun with en, always repeat the adverb of quantity or the indefinite adjectives used alongside it.

We have seen how to replace a noun with en. Now let’s look at what happens for expressions introduced by a verb + de.

En is also used to replace expressions introduced by a verb and followed by the preposition de and a noun. Many French verbs are followed by the preposition de!

When a verb + de is followed by a noun or noun phrase it can be replaced by en:

• Il s’occupe de la livraison des médicaments aux personnes âgées.

  He takes care of the delivery of medicines to the elderly.

  →

  Il s’en occupe.

  He’s taking care of it.

• Le journaliste parle de l’augmentation de la vente de produits bio.

  The reporter talks about the increase in the sale of organic products.

  →

  Il en parle depuis 5 minutes.

  He has been talking about it for 5 minutes.

Note that often a verb + de can then be followed by another verb. But en cannot be used to replace de + verb. En only replaces de + noun.

We’ve created a list and examples of common verbs + de in French that you can use en with to avoid repetition.

En is also used in French to replace expressions with de that indicate location. This will typically be in the form of a verb + de + noun phrase, like the expressions we looked at in the section above, but In this case, the noun phrase will be a location! You’ll find this often is done with verbs like venir de(to come from) or revenir de(to return from).

• 🏦 Je reviens juste de la banque ! → J’en reviens.

  I’m just coming back from the bank! → I’m just back (from) there.

• 🚆 Le train s’approche de la gare de Berne. → Le train s’en approche.

  The train is getting nearer to the Bern train station. → The train is getting nearer (to) there.

• 🌊 Ils arrivent du parc aquatique. → Ils en arrivent.

  They are arriving from the water park. → They are arriving (from) there.

Now that we have looked at the function of en, let’s move on to its place in the sentence.

Usually, you will place en in front of the conjugated verb:

• This is true when you use the expression il y a(there is, there are), where a is the conjugated verb.

  • Il y a beaucoup de manifestants ?

    Are there many demonstrators?

  • conjugated verb

    Oui, il y en a beaucoup.

    Yes, there are many (of them).

  The French pronoun y always goes before en. This is the famous Donkey Law (eee a(n), listen for yourself and you will never forget this rule 😀!)

• This also applies to French compound tenses such as the passé composé. En goes before the auxiliary in this case, because the auxiliary is the conjugated verb (rather than the past participleNo definition set for past participleLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.):

  • Tu as acheté du lait ?

    Did you buy milk?

  • conjugated verb

    Oui, j’en ai acheté hier.

    Yes, I bought some yesterday.

  Tip

  Did you know that when en needs to agree with the past participle it is always masculine/singular regardless of the genderNo definition set for genderLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. or numberNo definition set for numberLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. of the noun it replaces?

• In a French negative sentence, keep en in front of the conjugated verb.

  • Vous vendez des balles de tennis ?

    Do you sell tennis balls?

  • conjugated verb

    Non, je n’en vends pas.

    No, I don’t sell any.

• With a negated compound tense, this would look like:

  • Vous avez vendu des balles de tennis ?

    Did you sell tennis balls?

  • conjugated verb

    Non, je n’en ai pas vendu.

    No, I didn’t sell any.

• In a French question, en is also situated in front of the conjugated verb.

  conjugated verb

  Qu’est-ce que tu en penses ?

  What do you think about it?

The pronoun en will go after the conjugated verb in two main situations: when the verb is followed by an infinitive and in a positive imperative (a command to do something):

• When the verb is followed by an infinitive, eninl will go after the conjugated verb and directly before the infinitive. This is true in both positive and negative sentences:

  • Je peux vendre des boissons ?

    Can I sell drinks?

  • infinitive

    Oui, tu peux en vendre.

    Yes, you can sell some.

  Or:

  • infinitive

    Non, tu ne peux pas en vendre.

    No, you can’t sell any.

• In the French imperative mood, the pronoun en goes straight after the verb in the imperative in an affirmative sentence:

  imperative

  Buvez-en souvent le soir, ça vous aidera à vous endormir !

  Drink some often at night, it will help you fall asleep!

  However, look at what happens in the negative imperative:

  negative imperative

  N’en buvez pas le soir, ça vous empêcherait de dormir !

  Don't drink any at night, it will keep you awake!

  In the negative imperative, en still comes before the verb. The formula is:

  ne

  en

  imperative verb

  pas

  Many set phrases in French use the preposition en, such as J’en ai marre(I’m fed up). Check out our resource for more examples!

If you have several pronouns in a sentence with en — usually you only use a maximum of two within a sentence — en always comes last. Here is the order to follow:

Now you know when and how to use en, so it’s time to recap.