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" ?)

This question relates to:French dictation exercise "A crazy night out"

Dictation exercise B2

Asked 4 years ago

Like4Answer3

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!

Like74 years ago

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?

Like34 years ago

CécileNative French expert teacher in Kwiziq

Hi G,

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

d'propriétaires

Like24 years ago

Paul F. asked:

On en était déjà à notre troisième cocktail.

(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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