# FR: j'y vais / je m'en vais / j'en viens



## sandera

Bonjour,

"Je'en vais" ou "j'y vais" = I go there.
In reply, when asked if a specific place is named.
E.G. Do you go to the theatre?


S.


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## Nil-the-Frogg

"J'y vais."


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## pieanne

"Je m'en vais" = "I"m leaving"
"J'y vais" = "I'm going there" ("there" referring to a place that's just been mentioned"

"Do you go to the theatre?" "Oui, j'y vais de temps en temps/tous les mois"


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## OlivierG

Hello, Sandera, 

Our Grammar resources thread should help you: there is a link to "Object pronouns including y and en", and in the page that opens, another link to more details about the use of these words.

Enjoy your reading!


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## Thomas1

pieanne said:


> "Je m'en vais" = "I"m leaving"[...]


Wouldn't that work without the "m'"? I know there's _s'en aller_ (approximately) meaning to leave, but how about:
J'en vais. I'm going from there? --> (Je vais de Paris I'm going from Paris.)


Tom


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## Elmarit

"J'en vais" isn't correct.
If you want to say that you're going from Paris... well I guess you can translate it by "J'y vais à partir de Paris"?

OTOH, it's possible to say "Il en va de soi".


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## pieanne

There's a possibility with "venir"
-Tu es déjà allé à Paris?
- Oui, j'en viens!


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## Thomas1

Thanks for that very useful piece of information. 

Just to make sure:
Does _Je vais de Paris_ not work too?
Does _J'en vais._ make any sense (perhaps in some other contexts)?

Tom


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## pieanne

Thomas1 said:


> Thanks for that very useful piece of information.
> 
> Just to make sure:
> Does _Je vais de Paris_ not work too? doesn't work. It'd be "je viens de Paris" (I'm coming from Paris), or je vais de Paris à Lyon (shuttling from Paris to Lyon/traveling from Paris to Lyons)
> Does _J'en vais._ make any sense (perhaps in some other contexts)? As said before, it means "I'm leaving", "I'm off"  (it means "je m'en vais *d'ici*")
> 
> Tom


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## Nil-the-Frogg

No, "j'en vais" doesn't make sense, pieanne, that's "je m'en vais", as you wrote.


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## Thomas1

Thomas1 said:


> [...]
> Does _J'en vais._ make any sense (perhaps in some other contexts)?As said before, it means "I'm leaving", "I'm off" (it means "je m'en vais *d'ici*")[...]


Hm... it was said to be wrong actually (see post by Elmarit). _Je *m*'en vais_ was said to mean "I'm leaving". So, are they equivalents?


Tom


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## pieanne

Nil-the-Frogg said:


> No, "j'en vais" doesn't make sense, pieanne, that's "je m'en vais", as you wrote.


Yes, I had misread, sorry all


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## Elmarit

Thomas1 said:


> Hm... it was said to be wrong actually (see post by Elmarit). _Je *m*'en vais_ was said to mean "I'm leaving". So, are they equivalents?
> 
> 
> Tom



There's some confusion on this thread 
So to make things clear : "J'en vais" is not correct. One has to say "Je m'en vais" which can be translated as "I'm leaving", as said Pieanne.

In order to remember what's the right formulation, think of the *m*: in English you don't say "I leaving" but "I*'m* leaving"; it's the same in French, not "J'en vais" but "Je *m'*en vais".
I known it's not a grammatically correct comparison; take it as a mnemonic tip


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## Rhianydd

I remember it by looking at whether the verb is followed by anything as a matter of course and what it is followed by – It will either by “à” or “de” or nothing

Generally:
If “à” follows, then the pronoun to use is “y”
And if “de” follows then the pronoun to use is “en”

You use them when you’re not specifying what follows the “à” and the “de”

So:
Je vais à Paris => J’y vais [no mention of where you’re going]
Je n’ai pas de pommes => Je n’en ai pas [no mention of what you don’t have]


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## pieanne

Sounds like it's a fine rule of the thumb! [thumb up]


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