The expression s'en aller can be a little hard to get your head around, but it just means to leave or go away.
s'en aller in the Present tense (Le Présent)
s'en aller as an imperative (L'Impératif)
You can use it to tell people to go away:
If you want to understand the structure (you don't have to but it's interesting), the en part is actually a replacement (pronoun) for an unspoken d'ici or de [place] so it means from here or from [place].
So,
is structurally similar to get yourself out of here.
s'en aller in the conversational past tense (Le Passé Composé)
Since it's reflexive, it can get complicated in the Passé Composé.
Note that in these cases, the en will be before or after être: formally, it should be before, but in practice, it often ends up after.
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Vive le vent d'hiver,
Qui s'en va sifflant, soufflant,
Dans les grands sapins verts, oh !
Long live the winter wind,
that goes whistling, blowing,
through the big green pine trees, oh!
Il s'en est allé.
Il s'est en allé.
He left.
Allez-vous en !
Go away! (plural or formal)
Nous nous sommes en allés.
We left.
Ils s'en vont.
They're leaving.
Tu t'en vas déjà?
You're leaving already?
Q&A
Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
7/08/18
Hi Carole,
You could make the liaison in the second sentence between the s'est and the en ( sounds like sétan) but it's probably one liaison too far as you have to make the following one between en and allé ( nallé).
Liaisons if not compulsory are often instinctive and optional and will often depends on many cultural factors and habits.
Hope this helps!
Chris
Kwiziq community member
29/06/18
Oui, je l'ai entendu dit.
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
Cécile
Kwiziq language super star
30/06/18
Hi Donald,
Non, vous n'avez pas tort, la réponse est oui après les expressions qui prennent le subjonctif comme il faut:
Il faut que je m'en aille..
Chris
Kwiziq community member
7/03/18
Hi Dragana, this is a question which is best answered by a native speaker.
Personally, I find it sounds OK.
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
7/03/18
Bonjour Dragana !
You could indeed say Je m'en vais pour les vacances. = I'm going away for the holidays.
I'd say it's less colloquially used in the past tense in this context, we'll tend to use partir instead:
Je suis parti pour les vacances.
Ils sont partis pour les vacances.
Bonne journée !
Chris
Kwiziq community member
19/01/18
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
26/01/18
Ron
Kwiziq community member
28/07/17
Tamani
Kwiziq community member
31/07/17
Ron
Kwiziq community member
31/07/17
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
10/03/17
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
6/12/16
Gillian
Kwiziq community member
26 August 2018
1 reply
Why is “Elle s’en est allé” marked as wrong? Does it have to agree in gender as well as number?
Gillian
Kwiziq community member
26 August 2018
26/08/18