I've found this phrase in one of my games, but I don't know what is the "-y" for
"Affectez-y 10 citoyens pour produire des matériaux de construction."
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If you could provide us with more context, it'd be easier. It refers to a place most likely. If there are any instructions previous to that, it's probably referring to placing 10 citizens/villagers in the place where you can produce construction materials.– Nicholas J.Jun 23, 2016 at 5:59
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In the english version it asks me to place 10 workers in this scierie , also found this other phrase: "Le niveau de la scierie détermine le nombre maximal de travailleurs pouvant y produire des ressources." is it saying "the maximum of workers that can work HERE"?– José OsorioJun 23, 2016 at 6:02
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Yes. "Y" basically means à + un lieu. "Le niveau de la scierie détermine le nombre maximal de travailleurs qui peuvent produire des ressources à la scierie."– Nicholas J.Jun 23, 2016 at 6:09
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You helped me a lot, if you wish the points, put it as an answer. thx gl– José OsorioJun 23, 2016 at 6:21
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No problem. But you might find this question helpful and I believe yours has been already answered there: french.stackexchange.com/questions/66/…– Nicholas J.Jun 23, 2016 at 6:30
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2 Answers
-y is used to avoid repetition by referring to a previously mentioned entity.
Construisez une usine.
Affectez-y 10 citoyens pour produire des matériaux de construction.
Here -y refers to une usine mentioned in the previous sentence. So the sentence means:
Affectez à l'usine que vous avez construite 10 citoyens pour produire des matériaux de construction.
In English this would be:
Build a factory.
Assign it 10 citizens to produce building materials.
In English this it has the same usage as -y does in French.
Y is a pronoun.
In your case, y replaces a noun or a noun group introduced by à or its derived forms (aux, au), because the verb affecter (to appoint or to assign, in this context) is used with the à in French.
Affectez 10 citoyens à cette tâche pour produire des matériaux de construction.
The exception to this rule is when the noun is a person.
J'écris à ma mère. → Je lui écris.
Je pense à mon père/ma mère. → Je pense à lui/à elle.
Y should be placed before the verb, but in your example there is an inversion because of the use of the "impératif". Y is therefore placed after the verb with a hyphen for the link.
Note: y is also used to replace a location (introduced by chez, dans, sur, à…), but this is not your case.
