What does the word "Y" represent?

In the following passage, what does the word "y" in the sentence "Les restaurateurs s'y sont engagés" represent?

Après des années de pourparlers, c'est officiel : le taux de la TVA baissera à 5,5 % dans la restauration le 1er juillet, et cela se verra sur l'addition ! Les restaurateurs s'y sont engagés auprès du gouvernement.

Une

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Permalink Reply by Frank on August 14, 2009 at 11:50am

Hello Une,

You're right, "y" should refer to something. In your example, there must be a previous statement that "y" refers to, probably in the previous sentence.

There are _some_ rare cases where "y" doesn't refer to anything in particular (or this is implicit), but they are mostly expressions, as in:

J'y vais - (lit. "I'm going there") - I have to let you go. You don't explicitely need to tell where you are going.
Il y a - There is/there are - Again, you don't need to explicitely tell where it is.
Vas-y (lit. "Go there") - Come on/go ahead

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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on August 14, 2009 at 6:47pm

Frank

The following is a good one.
Tu dois obéir à Pamela.
You must obey Pamela.

However, you forgot the following:
Tu dois obéir à Neil.
You must obey Neil.

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Permalink Reply by michael memmi on August 15, 2009 at 10:18am

The letter Y is a 'short' to what the sentence wich preced , mention.
ex. J aime Paris et j'y vais. Here it replaces Paris.
or any place , mentionned just before