There's this one question in my textbook, asking us to replace "le musée" with a pronoun, in this sentence: "Nous allons visiter le musée"
The class is torn between the following answers: "Nous allons le visiter" And "Nous allons y visiter"
Which one is right , and why? I personally say the first one is right.
Nous allons le visiter is correct. Le musée is a direct object, it is a masculine noun, therefore le is the right pronoun to replace it.
Y would be ok if it were to replace a place complement, which is not the case in the sentence.
Compare with this one:
Nous allons visiter l'exposition Picasso au musée.
Then "au musée" is a place complement and can be replaced by "y":
Nous allons y visiter l'exposition Picasso.
Y may retain its original meaning as an adverb, with the sense of there but its position is always of an object pronoun.
Sachant que vous y seriez. Knowing that you would be there.
Paul y a été envoyé. Paul was sent there.
As a pronoun, y represents a thing or things in the Dative or governed by the prepositions à, en, dans. Hence:
On entendait les ordres, mais on n'y obéissait (i.e. les ordres) plus. (obéir à qqch)
La maison n'était pas loin. Elle y a couru.
Je n'ai pas confiance en ces choses. Je n'y ai aucune confiance.
Il pensait à sa thèse. Il y pensait sans cesse.
Il est impossible de pénétrer dans le château. Il est impossible d'y pénétrer.
Y may be used impersonally, referring to a clause or idea.
S'il gardait le silence, c'est qu'il y était obligé. (Musset)
EDIT Initially, I haven't answered directly your question. So I add this as an "appendix".
Thus in your case:
"Nous allons visiter le musée" => Nous allons le visiter.
Le replaces here le musée.
On the contrary,
Nous sommes au musée (à+le) => Nous y sommes (meaning we are there).
For y to replace a noun, the noun must come with a preposition (au musée here).
Similarly,
Nous irons au musée. => Nous y irons.
References:
H. Ferrar: A French Reference Grammar, p. 202.
M. Offold: A Student Grammar of French, p. 184.
EDIT 2 The expression Je n'y confiance (où y remplace en) is not encountered anymore in French. See the discussion here y et avoir confiance en
