# FR: J'en étais où ? Où en étais-je ?



## bcd85

Can anyone tell me what this construction could mean and why?

In context, there is a girl who finds an advertisement to make lots of money and then she says J'en etait où.

Thanks,

*Moderator note: *multiple threads merged to create this one


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## SwissPete

I hope she said: « J'en étais où ? » 

I don't think there is enough context.
For instance, 'make lots of money' doing what?


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## bcd85

Well, I forgot to mention. She was counting up to 100 and then lost her spot. And then said "J'en etait où". And then commenced to counting.


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## SwissPete

OK, then: "Where was I?"


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## bcd85

Any explanation for the "en"?


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## Beauceron-puppy

En = in my task

Où en étais-je (dans ce que j'étais en train de faire) ?

C'est là même chose que "J'y vais"

Y = là où tu as l'intention d'aller.

Ca a pour but de renseigner sur ce dont tu parles.


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## drhex

I have a something similar:  (from La Recherche)

Le CEA a pour objectif de faire ces simulations 3D à l'aide de calculateurs de classe exascale qui seront mis en service d'ici à 2020.
*Où en est-on sur* la comprehénsion de la façon dont l'énergie rentre dans le plasma ? Celle-ci pénètre dans le plasma à l'endroit où les faisceaux laser se croisent.

My problem is understanding the role of en in the quote above. Google translate gives me the same result with our without the "en". It doesn't seem to refer to anything in particular. Is it part of a fixed expression? Can it be omitted?


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## LazyRach

'En' refers back or forwards to the object [correct me, grammar experts] of a phrase and means 'of it/this' or 'with it/this' or 'for it/this', that sort of thing.

Tu as du chocolat?  J'en veux.  // Have you got chocolate?  I want some of that.
Merci!  Je vous en prie. // Thanks!  You are welcome for that (you wouldn't translate it that way in English, but you get the idea.)

In this example, it's referring forwards to the comprehénsion.  Où en est-on...?  Where are we with that?  

I'm not sure it's strictly necessary, but hopefully someone more expert than I will be able to help on that.


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## Oddmania

Hi,

I agree with LazyRach 


> I'm not sure it's strictly necessary.


It definitely is in DrHex's example. _"En être (quelque part)"_ is much of a set phrase. It describes a process.

_Ça en est où ?_ = How far *has it got*? / Where is it *up to*? / How much *more to go*? _etc. _​Dropping the _en_ would amount to asking _"Where is it? / Where are we?"_, as if you were enquiring about a location. The idiom _en être_ is often used to convey the idea that someone is halfway through something (a book, a movie, a TV show, etc.)

_J'*en *suis à la page 50 / à la moitié / à l'épisode 3 / à la scène de fin_, etc.​


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## evanola

Hi there, I'm perplexed by the "en" in the French expression "où en étais-je?"
If I remove "en" from the phrase, I can translate "où étais-je?" into English, word-for-word, as "where was I?" which makes perfect sense to me.
What is the meaning and/or grammatical function of "en" in the context of "où en étais-je"? What am I missing??
Thank you!


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## olivier68

This "en" means many things ;-)

"Où en étais-je..." par rapport à ce que je faisais avant.

There is no aspect of "localisation" ("où étais-je ?").

The whole meaning is "what was that I was saying/doing" before being interrupted in my current action.


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## Maître Capello

More precisely, _Où en étais-je ?_ means "What was it that I was saying?", "Where was I [in my reasoning/counting/etc.]?"


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## evanola

Thank you both for responding!
And thanks to whoever bumped my question to this thread. I tried to search the archives before I posted, but I didn't find this stuff.
I should have explained my question a bit better. I knew that “où en étais-je?” is what you say when you get interrupted or distracted while speaking, same as in English (for example, if you’ve digressed and you want to get back to your main point). But the word “en” in the French phrase seemed extra and unnecessary to me. I couldn’t figure out why you can’t say “où étais-je?” when you lose your train of thought...but I'm pretty sure I get it now. If you said "où étais-je," everyone would assume you were talking about a physical location, right? The purpose of the "en" is to let everyone know you're talking about a task, not a spot on the planet.


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## Maître Capello

Yes, that's it. 

You can consider the _en_ to refer to the implied reasoning, counting, etc., but you can also just consider it to be part of the set phrase _en être_.


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## Oddmania

Many instances of _en _can be pretty hard to parse and read into, but here _en _plays its usual role as a substitute for "_de_" + object.

Je suis *à la page 50* *de mon livre* → J'*en *suis* à la page 50* → *Où en *suis-je ?
J'étais *à la partie XYZ de mon explication* → *Où en* étais-je ?
Je suis *à Londres* → *Où *suis-je ?​
The _en _refers to what you're taking part in.


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## evanola

Thank you!


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