French language Q&A Forum

This is still being marked as incorrect. If it is, please explain clearly why; if it is not please fix the problem with the questions related to this topic - it is confusing enough to follow without having repeated confusion added by incorrect marking. I have checked previous answers and it was stated that it was correct but marked wrong for repeating words from the question - but the question was to write "What is the Sorbonne" in French. Fairly difficult to leave Sorbonne out of the answer.

Who would say "Carefree" after someone asks for their receipt?  Is that a Britishism?  Would not "No problem" or "No worries" be a better translation?

Hi,

I have seen celui-ci, celui-là, celle-ci, etc. used in text and I believe I have even seen them covered in a French class. I've looked, but can't seem to find any lesson that covers them on this site. Would you be able to explain when and how they are used as compared to simply celui, celle, etc as covered in this lesson?

thanks, Scott

Hello all,

I understand the basics of using Y as a pronoun but i’m confused about when to use it in certain cases. Especially when it can look like the fixed expression il y a (there is).

Please look at these examples

1: Il y a une fille – There is a girl

2: Il a une fille à Paris – He has a girl in Paris

3: Il Y a une fille – He has a girl THERE (in Paris)

1 & 3 look the same as both have « il y a », but il y a translates as « there is » in example 1 and « he has there » in example 3

How do you know when Il y a means « there is » or « he has there »

I have been told by a friend that you can’t use “il y a” for “he has there” not for sentence number 3

My question is: Why not ? Y replaces à Paris (one of the main uses of the Y pronoun) – I thought this was a simple logical rule.

My friend said “in french the sentence 3 in english it’s : il a une fille là. missing the “Y” ”

What is the rule around this?

because you can say
il a mangé à Paris > il y a mangé
but obviously in this situation, there cannot be any confusion with il y a (there is)

So my next question is now for ELLE

As above, I have been told that for Il y a une fille (he has a girl there (in Paris)) , you should in fact write

Il a une fille là

This prevents any confusion between il y a (there is) and il y a (he has there)

But for ELLE there is not confusion because « there is » is always « IL y a)

So for

Elle a un garçon à Paris

Can you write…

Elle y a un garçon – she has a boy there (in Paris)

As there is no confusion between il y a (there is) and elle y a (she has there)

Or do you still have to use là instead ?

Elle a une garçon là

I have also been told that elle y a doesnt exist, but surely the following example does.

Elle a mangé à Paris
Elle y a mangé

None of the french people i know can give me a rule or a straight answer, so if there is anyone who can answer these questions, I would be very grateful.

Best wishes,
Louis