Y et En Combinés: 'il y en a'

There are only two French clitic pronouns that come from the adverbial system rather than the personal-pronoun system: y and en. When they appear together, the order is fixed and unambiguous — y always precedes en — and the resulting combination is one of the most common strings in spoken French. The signature phrase, il y en a (there is some / there are some), can be heard dozens of times in any conversation. Mastering it is essential for everyday communication.

This page covers the y + en combination in detail: where it occurs, why the order is what it is, the existential il y en a family, the rare cases beyond it, and the pronunciation compressions natives use in fast speech.

The order: y before en

Whenever y and en coexist in the same clause, y comes first. This is the last position in the famous clitic-order chart:

Position	1	2	3	4	5
Clitics	me / te / se / nous / vous	le / la / les	lui / leur	y	en

The y-before-en order has a phonological logic: y (/i/) is a high front vowel, en (/ɑ̃/) is a low back nasal, and the natural transition is the high-low one. The reverse — en y — would be hard to pronounce and is in fact ungrammatical.

Because both y and en are vowel-initial, the combination y en triggers liaison: in il y en a, the /n/ of en links to the a of avoir, and the whole sequence y en a is pronounced as a single fluid /jɑ̃na/.

The flagship use: il y en a — there is some / there are some

By far the most frequent context for the y + en combination is the existential construction il y en a. This is built on il y a (there is / there are), with en added to express some or of them.

The phrase is so frequent that it has nearly fused into a single word in spoken French. Pronunciation: /iljɑ̃na/, often compressed in fast speech to /jɑ̃na/ — the il is barely audible.

Negative — il n'y en a pas

The negative form is il n'y en a pas. Note the unusual position of negation around the y and en.

In casual speech, the ne is routinely dropped: y en a pas (/jɑ̃napa/). This is the everyday spoken form.

Question — combien y en a-t-il ?

The interrogative version comes in three registers, from formal to casual:

• Formal (inversion): Combien y en a-t-il ? — note the -t- inserted to avoid two vowels colliding.
• Neutral: Combien il y en a ?
• Informal: Y en a combien ?

*(formal)* *(neutral)* *(informal)*

With quantifiers — il y en a beaucoup, plusieurs, quelques-uns

Like the regular en with quantity, the il y en a construction takes a quantifier on the surface to specify how many.

The quantifier sits after the verb (il y en a + quantifier), in the position the noun would normally occupy.

With numbers — il y en a trois, quatre, cinq

With qui + verb — il y en a qui...

A very common idiomatic structure in spoken French: il y en a qui... means there are some people who... It is a casual way of generalizing about a portion of people.

This use is highly idiomatic and is one of the markers of natural spoken French.

Beyond il y en a: the rest of the y + en universe

The y + en combination is heavily concentrated in the existential. Outside of il y en a, the combination is genuinely rare — and in some contexts felt as awkward by natives, who often rephrase rather than stack the two clitics.

On y en met / on en met là — putting some there

When you mean to put some there, French speakers usually rephrase with the location after the verb (on en met là, on en met dans le pot) rather than stacking y and en before the verb.

*(natural — uses 'en' alone, with the location implicit)* *(natural — 'en' alone)*

The construction j'y en mets (with both clitics) is grammatical but feels heavy. Native speakers usually pick one pronoun or split into separate clauses.

Il s'y en passe / il y en arrive — these patterns are unusual

When y and en would both be needed by the syntax of the verb, French often resolves the issue by dropping or rephrasing one of them. The combination is grammatical but rare.

*(natural — 'en' alone, the locative implicit)* *(natural — 'en' alone)*

In strict syntax-driven contexts (formal academic writing, careful prose), you may see the full y + en combination. In everyday conversation, you will not.

Imperative y + en — usually rephrased

Stacking y and en in an affirmative imperative (theoretically mettez-y-en) is awkward and almost never said. Speakers rephrase, splitting the action across clauses or using a separate adverb.

*(natural — separate clauses)* *(natural — 'en' alone, location implicit)*

The grammar of vas-y + prends-en in two separate clauses is much more natural than any attempt to combine them.

In this typical pattern, vas-y is a single fixed exclamation; prends-en uses en alone. The two pronouns are kept apart by being in different verb phrases.

Pronunciation: how natives compress il y en a

The phrase il y en a is so frequent that it has developed several characteristic pronunciation reductions:

Form	Phonetic	Register
il y en a	/il jɑ̃ na/	Careful, formal
il y en a	/i jɑ̃ na/	Standard spoken
y en a	/jɑ̃ na/	Casual, very common
y en a	/jɑ̃na/	Fast speech, telescoped

The dropping of il in casual speech is so widespread that y en a has become the default form heard in everyday conversation. Television, podcasts, and casual writing (text messages, social media) all show this short form.

*(casual / spoken)* *(casual idiom — note the y en a marre construction)*

In formal writing, you must restore the il — il y en a. In casual writing or in dialogue rendering colloquial speech, y en a is acceptable.

Y en a marre ! — a popular fixed exclamation

The combination y en a + the idiom en avoir marre gives the very common exclamation y en a marre ! — I/we've had enough!

*(casual)* *(casual)*

The full form is il y en a marre, but the dropped-il version is overwhelmingly the spoken default. The phrase has become a fixed expression of frustration.

Comparison with other constructions

Il y a vs il y en a

The base construction il y a (there is / there are) becomes il y en a when you want to express some / any / of them without naming the noun.

This is exactly the partitive logic of en applied to the existential.

C'est / il y a / il y en a — three nearby constructions

A common confusion: when do you use c'est, il y a, and il y en a?

• C'est — identifies a specific entity. C'est mon livre. (This is my book.)
• Il y a — asserts existence. Il y a un livre sur la table. (There is a book on the table.)
• Il y en a — asserts existence of an unspecified quantity. Il y en a plusieurs sur la table. (There are several of them on the table.)

The choice depends on whether you are identifying (use c'est), asserting existence (use il y a), or asserting an unspecified quantity (use il y en a).

Comparison with other Romance languages

Italian has the perfect parallel: ci ne — but Italian does not allow them in this order. In Italian, when ci and ne would meet, ci changes form to ce: ce n'è (there is some), ce ne sono tre (there are three of them). The Italian construction parallels French il y en a very closely; the only difference is that Italian renames ci to ce before ne, while French keeps both pronouns intact.

Spanish has lost both equivalents (y and en), so Spanish has no equivalent of il y en a. Spanish uses bare hay tres (there are three) without any clitic. This means Spanish-speaking learners of French chronically omit en in this exact construction — il y a trois, ungrammatical, instead of il y en a trois.

Portuguese, like Spanish, has no clitic equivalent.

So the y + en combination is one of the structural features that align French with Italian. Once again, French is closer to Italian than to Spanish in its clitic system.

Common Mistakes

Mistake 1: Reversing the order — en y instead of y en.

The order y + en is fixed. Reversing it produces ungrammatical French.

Mistake 2: Dropping en in il y en a.

When you have already mentioned the noun and want to refer back with a quantifier, you need en to take the noun's place — and the resulting structure becomes il y en a + quantifier.

Mistake 3: Spanish/English transfer — il y a trois for there are three.

English and Spanish drop the partitive, leaving the bare quantifier. French requires en to mark the missing noun.

Mistake 4: Trying to stack y and en in awkward positions.

Outside of il y en a, the y + en combination is genuinely rare. When syntax would require both, native speakers usually pick one and drop the other or split into separate clauses.

Mistake 5: Treating y en a (casual) as wrong.

*(casual but standard)* *(formal / written)*

The dropped-il form y en a is normal casual speech, not a mistake. In writing, restore il; in speech, y en a is everywhere.

Mistake 6: Forgetting the -t- in formal inversion.

The formal inversion construction inserts -t- between the verb and the inverted subject pronoun il to bridge the two vowels. Same logic as a-t-il, parle-t-elle, aime-t-on.

Key Takeaways

• When y and en coexist in a clause, the order is fixed: y before en. There is no en y form.
• The flagship and overwhelmingly most frequent context is the existential il y en a (there is/are some), one of the most common phrases in spoken French.
• Variants include il n'y en a pas (negative), combien y en a-t-il ? (formal interrogative), il y en a beaucoup / plusieurs / trois (with quantifiers).
• The idiom il y en a qui... (there are people who...) is highly idiomatic in spoken French.
• Outside of il y en a, the y
  • en stack is genuinely rare; native speakers usually rephrase to use only one of the two.
• In casual speech, il y en a compresses to y en a (/jɑ̃na/). The fixed exclamation y en a marre ! is everyday French.
• The combination is one of the structural alignments between French and Italian; Spanish and Portuguese have nothing equivalent.

For background on each pronoun individually, see clitic-y/overview and clitic-en/overview. For the broader rules of clitic ordering with multiple pronouns, see multiple-clitics/order.