On en était déjà à notre troisième cocktail.

Paul F.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

On en était déjà à notre troisième cocktail.

Hi. I am trying to work out why the pronoun "EN" is found in this sentence. Is it there to replace the implied "DE la soirée" as in "On était déjà à notre troisième cocktail de la soirée" ? Or am I way off track ? Thanks for shedding any light here. 

(And another thought, could it have equally been "On y était déjà à notre troisième cocktail" with the pronoun "y" used instead of "en" -  in this case to replace the implied "dans ce bar" ?)

Asked 4 years ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Paul ,

You can't as it is an idiomatic expression -

en être à to have reached the stage of 

Hope this helps!

G B.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

In the phrase "un changement de propriétaires" I can't hear the "de". Is the 'de' actually voiced or just part of the end of changement?

CécileNative French expert teacher in Kwiziq

Hi G,

'de' is there but it sorts of runs into propriétaires

d'propriétaires

 

On en était déjà à notre troisième cocktail.

Hi. I am trying to work out why the pronoun "EN" is found in this sentence. Is it there to replace the implied "DE la soirée" as in "On était déjà à notre troisième cocktail de la soirée" ? Or am I way off track ? Thanks for shedding any light here. 

(And another thought, could it have equally been "On y était déjà à notre troisième cocktail" with the pronoun "y" used instead of "en" -  in this case to replace the implied "dans ce bar" ?)

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