Questions & Answers about Je n'y retourne pas demain.
In this sentence, y means “there”. It replaces a place that has already been mentioned or is understood from context.
For example, if someone said:
- Tu retournes au bureau demain ? – Are you going back to the office tomorrow?
You can answer: - Non, je n’y retourne pas demain. – No, I’m not going back there tomorrow.
Here y stands for au bureau (to the office). In general, y replaces phrases introduced by à, dans, en, sur, chez, etc., when they refer to a thing or a place:
- Je vais à Paris. J’y vais demain. – I’m going to Paris. I’m going there tomorrow.
In French, short object pronouns (like me, te, le, la, y, en, etc.) generally go before the conjugated verb, not after.
So you say:
- Je retourne là-bas demain. – I’m going back there tomorrow. (full word là-bas after the verb)
but - J’y retourne demain. – I’m going back there tomorrow. (y before the verb)
The rule is:
- One conjugated verb → pronouns go in front of it:
- Je n’y retourne pas demain.
- With a verbal phrase like aller + infinitive, the pronoun normally goes before the infinitive:
- Je ne vais pas y retourner demain.
The standard French negative is ne … pas, and it wraps around the verb (and any pronouns attached to it).
Breakdown of Je n’y retourne pas demain:
- Je – I
- n’ – the ne of the negation, shortened before a vowel sound
- y – there
- retourne – go back / return
- pas – the second part of the negation
- demain – tomorrow
So the pattern is:
- Subject + ne + (object pronouns) + verb + pas (+ rest of the sentence)
→ Je n’y retourne pas demain.
You cannot say:
- ✗ Je retourne n’y pas demain.
or - ✗ Je ne retourne pas y demain.
The negation surrounds the verb block (pronouns + verb).
French often uses the present tense + a time expression to talk about the near future, much more than English does.
So:
- Je n’y retourne pas demain.
literally: I am not returning there tomorrow, but it means what English usually expresses with the future: - I’m not going back there tomorrow / I won’t be going back there tomorrow.
You could also use the future:
- Je n’y retournerai pas demain. – I will not go back there tomorrow.
Both are correct. The present + demain is very common and perfectly natural.
Je ne retourne pas là demain is understandable, but it sounds a bit awkward and less natural in many contexts.
More natural options are:
- Je ne retourne pas là-bas demain. – I’m not going back there tomorrow.
- Je ne retourne pas là demain – can work if you’re literally pointing at a spot (very deictic: “not back there tomorrow”).
However, if the place was already explicitly mentioned (e.g. au travail, à l’école, chez Paul), French speakers strongly prefer replacing that phrase with y:
- Je ne retourne pas au travail demain.
→ Je n’y retourne pas demain.
Using y sounds smoother and more idiomatic than repeating a vague là in most contexts.
You can, but the meaning changes:
Je ne retourne pas demain.
= I’m not going back tomorrow (without saying where). The place is not expressed at all.Je n’y retourne pas demain.
= I’m not going back there tomorrow (clearly refers to a specific place mentioned earlier).
If the question was “Are you going back there tomorrow?”, then:
- Je ne retourne pas demain. feels incomplete or evasive.
- Je n’y retourne pas demain. directly answers “I’m not going back there tomorrow.”
All three can involve “coming/going back,” but they’re used differently:
retourner – to go back (there), often from the speaker’s current location to some other place
- Je n’y retourne pas demain. – I’m not going back there tomorrow.
revenir – to come back (here), relative to the speaker’s point of view
- Je ne reviens pas demain. – I’m not coming back (here) tomorrow.
rentrer – to go back home / back inside / back to your base
- Je ne rentre pas demain. – I’m not going back (home / to where I live or stay) tomorrow.
In Je n’y retourne pas demain, the focus is on returning to that other place that was mentioned, not necessarily “home” and not “here” to the speaker, so retourner with y is appropriate.
Yes. In everyday spoken French, people very often drop ne and keep only pas (or plus, jamais, etc.):
- Je n’y retourne pas demain. – full, standard form
- J’y retourne pas demain. – very common in casual speech
This is grammatically informal but extremely frequent. In writing (especially formal writing), you should keep ne:
- Written / formal: Je n’y retourne pas demain.
- Spoken / informal: J’y retourne pas demain.
Yes, you can say:
- Je ne vais pas y retourner demain.
This uses aller + infinitive (near future), similar to English “I’m not going to go back there tomorrow.”
Differences in nuance:
Je n’y retourne pas demain.
– simple present with future meaning; very common, neutral.Je ne vais pas y retourner demain.
– slightly more focused on the intention/plan (“I’m not going to go back there tomorrow”), can sound a bit more deliberate.
Both are correct, natural ways to talk about the future.
Pronunciation (approximate):
- Je n’y retourne pas demain → /ʒə ni ʁə.tuʁn pa də.mɛ̃/
Details:
- Je – /ʒə/
- n’y – /ni/ (the e in ne is dropped before a vowel sound; this is elision: ne → n’)
- retourne – /ʁə.tuʁn/
- pas – /pa/
- demain – /də.mɛ̃/
You write n’y because French avoids two vowel sounds in a row in this position; the e in ne is removed and replaced by an apostrophe:
- ne y retourne pas → n’y retourne pas (written and spoken).
Both y and en replace prepositional phrases, but they don’t replace the same kind of phrase.
y replaces:
- à + thing/place, or locations introduced by chez, dans, en, sur, etc.
- Je retourne au bureau demain. → J’y retourne demain.
en replaces:
- de + noun (some, any, of it, of them)
- Je bois du café. → J’en bois. – I drink (some of it).
So in Je n’y retourne pas demain, the original must have been something like Je ne retourne pas au bureau demain / à l’école demain / chez Paul demain, etc. That’s why y is used, not en.