The French pronoun y replaces a prepositional phrase referring to a place that begins with any preposition except de (for which en is used).
Les hommes vont en France. - Les hommes y vont.
The men go to France - The men go there.
Note that en, and not y is used when the object is of the preposition de.
Idioms
Ça y est! - It's done!
J'y suis! - I get it!
en
Replacement of a partitive construction
The pronoun en replaces a noun with a partitive article (l'article partitif: du, de la, de, des) at the front.
In this case En goes always with the singular, even if there are many items adressed.
Je veux du pain. => J'en veux. - I want some bread. => I want some.
Replacement of quantified nouns
If the quantity of the object is specified, "en" is used for the replacement of the noun.
Example: Il a acheté deux pommes. => Il en a acheté deux.
Note that no agreement is needed between the past participle (le participe passé) and the object (complément d'objet direct).
Replacement of phrases with de
The pronoun en replaces prepositional phrases beginning with de if the object of the preposition is referring to a thing or place.
Je viens de Paris. - I come from Paris.
J' en viens. - I come from it.
Note that stress pronouns, and not en are used if the object refers to a person or persons.
Pronoun order
Order chart
If a sentence uses no infinitive, the pronouns are embedded as follows:
Subject
Direct or Direct Obj Indirect
Pronoun Neg
Neg
Indirect
Pronouns Objects
(or noun)
je
me
tu
te
le
pas
il (elle)
la
lui
conjugated
past
ne nous
plus
nous
leur
y en verb
