Learn Hardcore French: Les citoyens y participent avec espoir, mais certains ont aussi de la peine et des soucis. - The citizens take part in it with hope, but some also have sorrow and worries.

So Les citoyens y participent means: “The citizens take part in it” or “The citizens participate in it”, where “it” is that previously mentioned event or process.

Grammatically:

The full structure is participer à + [something].
When you replace à + [something] with y, you get y participer → Les citoyens y participent.
Y goes before the verb.

Why don’t we see à after participent? Shouldn’t it be participer à?

Yes, the basic expression is participer à quelque chose (to participate in something).

In this sentence, that à + quelque chose has been replaced by y:

Full form: Les citoyens participent à ce processus.
With pronoun: Les citoyens y participent.

When you use y, you do not keep the à; it is “absorbed” into the pronoun.

So you cannot say Les citoyens participent à y. The correct form is only Les citoyens y participent.

Why is it Les citoyens and not just Citoyens participent like in English “Citizens participate”?

In French, you usually need an article before a noun, even when you are speaking in general.

Les citoyens participent… = “Citizens (in general) participate…”
The definite article les is often used for general statements about a whole group.

English often drops the article in that use, but French normally doesn’t:

Les enfants aiment jouer. → “Children like to play.”
Les étudiants étudient beaucoup. → “Students study a lot.”

So Les citoyens here means “citizens in general,” not specifically some known group.

Why is it avec espoir and not avec l’espoir or avec de l’espoir? Do they mean different things?

All three are possible, but they have slightly different flavors:

avec espoir
- Very common in literary or slightly elevated language.
- Treats espoir as an abstract way/manner: “with hopefully,” “in a hopeful way.”
- No article because it’s functioning more like an adverbial notion of manner.
avec de l’espoir
- More concrete: “with some hope.”
- Emphasizes a certain amount of hope, like a measurable feeling.
avec l’espoir (de + infinitif)
- Usually followed by something specific: avec l’espoir de réussir = “with the hope of succeeding.”
- Refers to a particular hope or expectation.

In avec espoir, the idea is more general: they are participating in a hopeful spirit, rather than focusing on one specific hope.

What does de la peine mean here, and why do we use de la instead of la or nothing at all?

In this context, de la peine means “some sadness / some emotional pain / sorrow.”

The word peine is a feminine, uncountable noun here, and de la is the partitive article, used for an indefinite quantity of something:

de la peine = “some (amount of) sadness / pain”
like de la joie (some joy), de la patience (some patience)

Comparisons:

la peine = “the sorrow / the pain” (a more specific, identified pain)
peine with no article here would sound wrong in French; an uncountable noun used this way normally needs a determiner.

So ils ont de la peine = “they feel sad / they are in emotional pain,” with the idea of some amount of that feeling.

What exactly are des soucis, and how is that different from des problèmes or des inquiétudes?

Un souci (plural des soucis) means roughly “a worry, a concern”.

Nuances:

des soucis
- Everyday word for worries, concerns, things that weigh on your mind.
- Can be practical or emotional.
- avoir des soucis ≈ “to have worries / to be worried.”
des problèmes
- More general problems, possibly more concrete or serious.
- You can have financial problems, health problems, etc.
- Not always about mental worry; can be external difficulties.
des inquiétudes
- Closer to anxieties, apprehensions.
- Stresses the feeling of being anxious more than the objective problem.

In the sentence, de la peine et des soucis suggests both sadness and worries about the situation.

Why is certains used alone here? Where is the noun it refers to?

Here, certains is used as a pronoun, not as an adjective.

As an adjective, it must be followed by a noun:
- certains citoyens = some citizens
As a pronoun, it stands in for a previously mentioned noun:
- Les citoyens y participent…, mais certains…
- → certains (citoyens) = “some (of them).”

So the noun citoyens is understood from the context and not repeated:

Les citoyens y participent… → “The citizens participate in it…”
…mais certains ont aussi de la peine… → “…but some (of them) also feel sad...”

Grammatically, certains here = “some (people) / some (of them).”

Why is it ont and not sont with de la peine et des soucis? In English we might say “they are sad” or “they are worried.”

French often uses avoir (“to have”) with feelings, where English uses “to be”.

Common patterns:

avoir de la peine = to feel sad / to be in pain emotionally
avoir des soucis = to have worries / to be worried
avoir peur = to be afraid
avoir faim = to be hungry

So:

certains ont aussi de la peine et des soucis
- Literally: “some also have sadness and worries.”
- Natural English: “but some are also sad and worried / have sorrow and worries.”

Using sont here (certains sont de la peine) would be incorrect. The idiomatic structure is avoir + [these nouns].

Why is aussi placed after ont in certains ont aussi de la peine et des soucis? Can it go somewhere else?

In this sentence, aussi is an adverb meaning “also / too”, and its neutral position is after the conjugated verb:

certains ont aussi de la peine…

This placement is very common with short verbs in the present tense:

Ils sont aussi inquiets.
Nous avons aussi des questions.

Other positions:

Certains, eux aussi, ont de la peine…
- Adds emphasis on “they too”, more contrastive.
Certains ont de la peine aussi.
- Puts a bit more emphasis on the whole idea of having sadness as an addition.

In neutral, straightforward style, [subject] + [verb] + aussi + [rest] (as in the sentence) is standard and natural.

How do the verb forms participent and ont agree with their subjects here?

Both verbs are in the 3rd person plural, agreeing with plural subjects:

Les citoyens y participent
- Subject: Les citoyens (they)
- Verb: participent (3rd person plural of participer)
certains ont aussi de la peine…
- Subject: certains (some [of them])
- Verb: ont (3rd person plural of avoir)

In French, the verb ending changes with the subject:

il participe, ils participent
il a, ils ont

So participent and ont both correctly match their respective plural subjects.