Look at these sentences with the pronoun en:
Je viens de Paris. - J'en viens aussi !
I come from Paris. - I come from there too!
Que penses-tu de cette exposition ? - J'en pense le plus grand bien !
What do you think of this exhibition? - I think very highly of it.
Je m'occupe de mes problèmes. Je m'en occupe.
I'm dealing with my problems. I'm dealing with them.
Elle a besoin de vacances. Elle en a besoin.
She needs holidays. She needs them.
Notice that en as a pronoun can replace phrases introduced by the preposition de + [thing]/[object]/[location] (but not people), particularly with verbs that require de.
In such cases, you cannot replace the noun alone with a pronoun, you must replace the whole de + [noun] group with en.
ATTENTION:
Tu te moques de Paul et Daniel. - Non, je ne me moque pas d'eux !
You're mocking Paul and Daniel. - No, I'm not mocking them!
J'ai besoin de ma mère tous les jours. - J'ai besoin d'elle aussi.
I need my mother every day. - I need her too.
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Je m'occupe de mes problèmes. Je m'en occupe.
I'm dealing with my problems. I'm dealing with them.
Je viens de Paris. - J'en viens aussi !
I come from Paris. - I come from there too!
J'ai des chocolats. - J'en ai.
I've got chocolates. - I've got some.
Il se sert de ses outils. - Je m'en sers aussi.
He's using his tools. - I'm using them too.
Tu joues de la trompette. - Tu en joues.
You play trumpet. - You play (it)
J'ai besoin de ma mère tous les jours. - J'ai besoin d'elle aussi.
I need my mother every day. - I need her too.
Je mange de la purée. - J'en mange.
I'm eating mash. - I'm eating some.
Tu te moques de Paul et Daniel. - Non, je ne me moque pas d'eux !
You're mocking Paul and Daniel. - No, I'm not mocking them!
Elle a besoin de vacances. Elle en a besoin.
She needs holidays. She needs them.
Que penses-tu de cette exposition ? - J'en pense le plus grand bien !
What do you think of this exhibition? - I think very highly of it.
Q&A
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
4/01/17
Yes, that's exactly how this sentence works literally.
In French, you need to mention the thing that the quantity refers to, otherwise something is missing (She found one what?).
See the related lesson:
https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/revision/grammar/the-adverbial-pronoun-en-means-of-them-with-quantities
I hope that's helpful!
Bonne Année !
Gruff
Kwiziq language super star
25/04/16
In this case, "en" is just the preposition meaning "in", not the adverbial pronoun "en". We have "ne" + "que" = "only" and the "que" has contracted with "en" which is possibly what confused you?
"en photo" means "in photographic form" / "in photos".
Hope that helps!
Pavlina
Kwiziq community member
2/10/17
Ann
Kwiziq community member
30 May 2018
1 reply
In the writing challenge, the translation from english was that person dreamed of going to Paris, I translated this as y rêver thinking rêver à aller
but the answer was en rêver. Please explain why
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
30 May 2018
30/05/18
Bonjour Ann !
This one is quite a tricky case!
The fact is that rêver à + [quelque chose] is very rarely used, and always in a figurative context, something you're considering:
rêver à de futures vacances...
but
rêver de toi
For every other case, it would be rêver de.
And to say to dream of [doing something], you'll always use rêver de [infinitif]:
Je rêve de faire le tour du monde.
Il rêvait d'aller en Espagne.
I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !