Consider the following sentence:
Léna pense qu'elle en a rencontré un.
I think it's saying that "Lena thinks she's met one". But what's the purpose of "en" here? Why not just say:
Léna pense qu'elle a rencontré un.
1 Answer
In this case, "en" is called a "partitive" because it singles out a part (that is an entity) of a larger set as in "she believes aliens exist and thinks she met one (of them)".
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Thanks. Do you happen to know what's the role of "en" in this one: J'en faisais des cauchemars horrible– AliCommented Feb 2, 2020 at 9:14
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Could you please provide a larger context (for example the one you quote this sentence from)?– user22700Commented Feb 2, 2020 at 9:16
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Sure. Here's a link to the clip: youtu.be/-6lSl88KE5g (sorry the story is a bit disturbing :( ) Here's what I hear: Vous êtes au courant pour Lucy Clarsen ? Qui ça ? Une fille qui travaillait dans ce bar, là, le Lake Pub. Bref, elle rentrait chez elle, et un type l'a sauvagement agressée dans le tunnel. Il lui a bouffé l'estomac. Ça recommence, on dirait, comme il y a sept ans. (something?????) J'en faisais des cauchemars horribles... She says something before "j'en" that I don't understand.– AliCommented Feb 2, 2020 at 11:10
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In this case, "en" refers back to the content of the nightmares without mentioning it again (something like "I had horrible nightmares (ABOUT the attack in the tunnel").– user22700Commented Feb 2, 2020 at 11:15
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