What does the "y" stand for in "Je m'y attendais"? There's no À, and it certainly does not mention some place there. So why is there a "Y"?
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asked Apr 16 '16 at 5:58
Marco Ruben Abuyuan LlanesMarco Ruben Abuyuan Llanes
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Please provide context "Y" is a pronoun and stands for something but we cannot tell you what if you do not say what comes before. – Laure SO - Écoute-nous Apr 16 '16 at 6:02
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Could you rephrase that? I couldn't understand – Marco Ruben Abuyuan Llanes Apr 16 '16 at 6:04
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The answers to this post might help you. – Laure SO - Écoute-nous Apr 16 '16 at 6:04
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"Y" stands for something that is mentioned before so you must write more, not just the sentence you do not understand. – Laure SO - Écoute-nous Apr 16 '16 at 6:06
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Y stands for à ça, i.e. Je m'attendais à ça. – jlliagre Apr 16 '16 at 16:57
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Personal pronoun "y" can replace something that is indirect object to a verb whose indirect object is introduced by preposition "à".
A verb phrase :
A- Il pleut.
B- Je m'y attendais, il y avait de gros nuages noirs.
A noun :
A- Voilà la pluie.
B- Je m'y attendais, il y avait de gros nuages noirs.
The verb is "s'attendre à". We could react to "Il pleut" with:
Je m'attendais à ce qu'il pleuve.
and to "Voilà la pluie" with :
Je m'attendais à la pluie.
we will usually replace "à ce qu'il pleuve" or "à la pluie" by personal pronoun "y" placed just before the verb.
answered Apr 16 '16 at 6:38
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3Obviously. And this is not a complete grammar course about the use of "y". This is an answer to OP's question. – Laure SO - Écoute-nous Apr 16 '16 at 6:51
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That may be true, but how can you be sure it replaced a verb phrase in this case without the OP having given context? – Sander Apr 16 '16 at 6:53
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@Sander Read Laure's reply closer, she wrote "can replace" not "does replace". – jlliagre Apr 16 '16 at 7:07
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1@Lambie: Just fix it if you're bothered. English grammar is not the topic here. – Stéphane Gimenez♦ Apr 16 '16 at 14:57
