In "Personne ne croit en toi comme j'y crois", why "y" if y is standing for "en toi?" I thought y was for prepositional phrases beginning with à
why j'y crois?
- « Back to Q&A Forum
- « Previous questionNext question »
why j'y crois?
Reading B2, Music, Family & Relationships, Listening or Seeing B2
That's a good question. The usual
Croire à qqc -- to believe something
croire en qqc -- to believe in something, trust in something, have faith in something
(Note that croire can also take a COD without any preposition)
There's a difference in certitude or conviction: croire à is less certain, with less emotional emphasis than croire en.
In the sentence you ask about, y may not stand for en toi, it could also stand by itself and on its own, referring to the general idea of "believing in you".
Thanks, Chris. A couple clarifying questions--what does COD stand for?
And if y does not stand for anything, then what is its purpose In the sentence?
COD = complement objet direct = direct object of the verb. In the case of croire, this would be: je crois Pierre riche -- I hold Pierre for rich (I believe he is rich).
J'y crois is idiomatic and means "I believe it".
Stephanie - not sure about the use of ‘y’ here - but agree it logically replaces ‘en toi’. As it is in a song, perhaps this is not 100% grammatically correct ? Every site I have found notes only places, things or “ideas” but not ‘people’ can be replaced by ‘y’.
However ‘y’ is not restricted to replacing places introduced by à, it can replace a place starting with other “prepositions of place” as well.
Je vais en France -J’y vais, for instance.
https://www.leaflanguages.org/french-grammar-adverbial-pronoun-y/
https://www.frenchtoday.com/blog/french-grammar/how-to-use-the-pronoun-y-in-french/
Don't have an account yet? Join today
Find your French level for FREE
Test your French to the CEFR standard
Find your French level