'En'... French word: Spanish equivalent ?

Question

French uses a very handy preposition that has no real direct equivalent in English, yet is commonly used in idiomatic expressions in French & pretty soon feels natural to use.

This is 'en', meaning, broadly speaking, 'of it' / 'of them'. E.g., in French you could say 'il en a trop bu' for 'he drank too much (of it)', OR 'il y en a trop' for 'there is/are too much/ many (of it/them)'.

Is there an equivalent in Spanish ?

Lo siento, not preposition... Pronoun... I'm not big on grammar terms. - Faldaesque, Sep 13, 2014

Answer 1

Hello Falda

You said/asked:

French uses a very handy preposition that has no real direct equivalent in English, yet is commonly used in idiomatic expressions in French & pretty soon feels natural to use. This is 'en', meaning, broadly speaking, 'of it' / 'of them'. E.g., in French you could say 'il en a trop bu' for 'he drank too much (of it)', OR 'il y en a trop' for 'there is/are too much/ many (of it/them)'.Is there an equivalent in Spanish ?

Well, the French word en would be translated into Spanish as de ellos = of them because the Spanish only use the word 'them' in the plural! What we have to guard against is the confusion caused by the fact that the English language allows for the use of the word them in both a singular and a plural form: them to refer to an individual, and also a group, respectively!

However, if you wish to say of it in Spanish you would use: de ello

So, of it = de ello /of them = de ellos

Beyond this, the Spanish and French may use these words quite differently according to the individual contexts, especially where en is used as an idiom.

I would strongly recommend an app called (the): VOX Français-Español (French Spanish Dictionary) available on Google Play Android)

I hope this helps

Gracias. What about 'of it' ? He has taken too much of it / Il en a pris trop... ? - Faldaesque, Sep 13, 2014

Falda, You're welcome :) I also mentioned this one above in my post: 'de ello' (singular) cf (compared with) de elloS (o them) - - FELIZ77, Sep 13, 2014

Answer 2

Frankly (no pun intended), 'en's is a bit of a pain in the neck to get the hang of in French ('y' as a pronoun is similar), but once you get used to it, it's very hand. It means 'some of it/them/this/that/these/those/that abstract thing over there etc...' Would be handy in Spanish as well.

I think you mean , very handY :) - FELIZ77, Sep 13, 2014

One phrase may cover many things in one language as you have indicated in this short post, but each of these will be covered by something different in Spanish :) - FELIZ77, Sep 13, 2014

:-D - Faldaesque, Sep 13, 2014