Y can replace à + thing / object / location (adverbial pronoun)

Commencer à does not work

Bonjour ! 

I have been told by French people that I cannot apply this rule to the verb commencer à. 

For example: 

Je commence à faire mes devoirs. J'y commence. 

I am starting to do my homework. I'm starting it. 

Is it an exception ? Or is it just socially not regularly used ? 

Merci ! 

Doubt in a sentence from the lesson

Bonjour Madame,

I have often read about the usage of "Penser à + (quelqu'un)"

But in the sentence from the lesson which reads-

"Nous pensons à faire nos devoirs. Nous y pensons"

Here I think the form "penser de + (quelquechose) should be used as the people are forming an opinion of something(doing their homework)

So consequently the phrase should be replaced by 'en'.

The same thought is for the very next sentence.

Pls guide and verify whether my thought is correct or not.

Merci beaucoup.

The pronoun Y: Il y a (there is), il y a (he has there) – confusion

Hello all,

I understand the basics of using Y as a pronoun but i’m confused about when to use it in certain cases. Especially when it can look like the fixed expression il y a (there is).

Please look at these examples

1: Il y a une fille – There is a girl

2: Il a une fille à Paris – He has a girl in Paris

3: Il Y a une fille – He has a girl THERE (in Paris)

1 & 3 look the same as both have « il y a », but il y a translates as « there is » in example 1 and « he has there » in example 3

How do you know when Il y a means « there is » or « he has there »

I have been told by a friend that you can’t use “il y a” for “he has there” not for sentence number 3

My question is: Why not ? Y replaces à Paris (one of the main uses of the Y pronoun) – I thought this was a simple logical rule.

My friend said “in french the sentence 3 in english it’s : il a une fille là. missing the “Y” ”

What is the rule around this?

because you can say
il a mangé à Paris > il y a mangé
but obviously in this situation, there cannot be any confusion with il y a (there is)

So my next question is now for ELLE

As above, I have been told that for Il y a une fille (he has a girl there (in Paris)) , you should in fact write

Il a une fille là

This prevents any confusion between il y a (there is) and il y a (he has there)

But for ELLE there is not confusion because « there is » is always « IL y a)

So for

Elle a un garçon à Paris

Can you write…

Elle y a un garçon – she has a boy there (in Paris)

As there is no confusion between il y a (there is) and elle y a (she has there)

Or do you still have to use là instead ?

Elle a une garçon là

I have also been told that elle y a doesnt exist, but surely the following example does.

Elle a mangé à Paris
Elle y a mangé

None of the french people i know can give me a rule or a straight answer, so if there is anyone who can answer these questions, I would be very grateful.

Best wishes,
Louis

The pronoun Y

I am not clear on these two examples even after rereading the lesson. I can't see the exact phrase or object that is being replaced (assuming its introduced by à or a prepositional verb). Is there another situation where "en" can be used.

- Tu te rappelles quand Luc a perdu à Donkey Kong à deux secondes de la fin ? J'ai les boules à chaque fois que j'y pense ! 
- Quand j'ai vu le “Game Over”, je n'arrivais pas à y croire ! Il me reste quatre tickets, et toi ?

Elle y repond ... why not elle le repond? (I can't get the accent to work so ignore that). I'm not sure when to replace with le or y

This, that and so

In discussing the use of "le" or " l' " in a response as a substitute for an idea in a previous statement the explanation is that in English we often use "that" or "it" in the same way. But in the translation you use the word "so," which is what we usually say. It's a small thing but I'd suggest adding "so" to those other words in the explanation.

Placement of y in a sentence using futur proche

I thought there was a rule that "y" should come before the verb (including auxiliary verb). There seems to be an exception when using the futur proche? For example: Je vais y reflechir rather than J'y vais reflechir.

You just have to watch all the movies

Hi. In the week 19 B1 writing test the above is translated as: Il n’y a qu’à regarder tous les films. I can understand 'you only have to watch' bit but please what purpose does the 'y' pronoun play here please? [And as an unrelated aside could this sentence not be simply said as: Vous devez juste regarder tous les films. ]

On the test the question was "Il pense à sa famille. Elle y pense aussi.

If y = à plus thing/object/location (but not a person) and famille is a group of people why is y used?

Penser + à + infinitive

In an article on About.com, Laura Lawless explained that no preposition is needed when an infinitive follows "penser" eg "Je pense aller au marché" (http://french.about.com/od/grammar/a/penser.htm). So why is it that in the given example "We are thinking about doing our homework" the preposition "à" is used before "faire". The example given is "nous pensons à faire nos devoirs". Isn't that a contradiction? I have found other links that seem to agree with the About.com article: http://www.frenchtoday.com/blog/why-french-verbs-followed-no-not-any-nothing-preposition-infinitive, http://bit.ly/1MAR8H1, http://bit.ly/1SXvroK; but i also encounter a French natives and learners who say you can use the preposition "à" before an infinitive. It seems that without the preposition the sense is someone is close to doing something/intends on doing something (it is already planned) and that with the preposition "à" then idea is someone is just thinking ABOUT doing something. At first I could find nothing to support this theory but today I seem to find such explanations everywhere! http://bit.ly/1WYqT7j. So which is it? If there is more to the topic, can Laura add to it on her page "All About Penser"?