Breakdown of J'espère que nous allons nous en tirer.
je
I
nous
we / us (object pronoun)
aller
to go
espérer
to hope
que
that (introducing a clause)
s'en tirer
to pull through
Questions & Answers about J'espère que nous allons nous en tirer.
How does the meaning of tirer change when used as s'en tirer in this sentence?
The basic verb tirer means to pull or to shoot. When used as the pronominal verb s'en tirer, it takes on the idiomatic meaning of to pull through, to get out of a tough spot, or to get away with it. The pronoun en here stands in for the hypothetical bad situation you are escaping.
I thought expressing a hope or wish required the subjunctive. Why is nous allons in the indicative?
That is a very common B2 trap! While most verbs of wishing and wanting (like vouloir que or souhaiter que) require the subjunctive, espérer que is a major exception. In affirmative sentences, it takes the indicative because it implies a strong expectation that the event will actually happen. You typically only use the subjunctive with espérer in negative sentences or questions.
Why are the pronouns nous and en placed right before tirer instead of before allons?
This sentence uses the futur proche (the near future), which is built with aller followed by an infinitive. In this structure, object and reflexive pronouns always go immediately before the infinitive they logically belong to. Since the action being performed is the idiomatic s'en tirer, both the reflexive pronoun nous and the pronoun en must sit directly in front of tirer.
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