[Originally posted on 01/04/19 on the Duolingo French for English speakers forum by CommeuneTexane]
Y Replaces À + Thing
For verbs appended with à (like penser à), the adverbial pronoun y can replace à + a thing.
- Tu penses à l’examen ? — Are you thinking about the test?
- Oui, j’y pense encore. — Yeah, I’m thinking about it again.
- Il croit aux fantômes ? — Does he believe in ghosts?
- Oui, il y croit. — Yes, he believes in them.
To replace à + a person or animal, use an indirect object pronoun instead.
- Je lui parle. — I am talking to him/her.
- Elle me téléphone maintenant. — She is calling me right now.
Confusing Verbs
Demander à means “to ask to” when followed by an infinitive.
- Elle demande à payer avec des dollars. — She asks to pay with dollars.
However, when used with nouns, demander is particularly confusing because its direct and indirect object are the opposite of its English counterpart, “to ask”.
- Je demande une baguette. — I ask for a baguette. (Not “I ask a baguette.”)
- Je demande une baguette à la boulangère. — I ask the baker for a baguette.
- Je lui demande de me donner une baguette. — I ask him/her to give me a baguette.
Manquer à means “to miss”, but the pronouns are flipped from its English counterpart. If it helps, you can think of manquer as “to be missed by”.
- Vous me manquez. — I miss you.
- Je vous manque. — You miss me.
Plaire à is commonly translated as “to like”, but for grammatical purposes, think of it as “to please” or “to be pleasing to”.
- La jupe plaît aux filles. — The girls like the skirt. / The skirt is pleasing to the girls.
- Ça me plaît. — I like it. / That is pleasing to me.
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