"En" meaning,

Hi everyone,

Please help me to explain the meaning of "en" in the following sentence!

"Avant de t'en aller ce soir"

I found that "en" is used as the equivalent of "of it/them" on http://www.french-linguistics.co.uk/grammar/en_pron.shtml

But I can not understand the meaning of "en" in the sentence

Do we have any difference if we say: "Avant d'aller ce soir"?

Please help me to explain and thank you!

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EducatorPermalink Reply by George Hunt on October 20, 2012 at 5:04pm

"s'en aller" is often translated as "to go away" and "t'en aller" would be the second person singular form of the infinitive.
Otherwise it goes (in the present indicative tense)

je m'en vais
tu t'en vas
il/elle s'en va
nous nous en allons
vous vous en allez
ils/elles s'en vont

Yes there would be a slight difference between "Avant d'aller ce soir" and "Avant de nous en aller ce soir"

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Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on October 20, 2012 at 9:13pm

George has explained the difference between "aller" and "s'en aller" : effectively, in "s'en aller", the "en" is just there "because it is" -- is't best not to try and analyse it too much.

One very small point: you don't usually use "aller" on its own as you have in your last sentence. If you don't express the destination (e.g. "aller au cinéma"), then you usually need to insert "y" instead. So your sentence would become:

Avant d'y aller ce soir.

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Key StudentPermalink Reply by Peter En on October 20, 2012 at 11:55pm

I understand that this is someone else's discussion- but I thought it best not to create a new thread for the same content. By extension:

Elle avait 27 ans, elle en faisait à peine 18. Elle m’a dit son vrai prénom et n’a pratiquement plus ouvert la bouche

I'm not quite sure what the "en faisait" means in this context.

Does this suggest that, although she said she was 27, she was hardly 18?

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EducatorPermalink Reply by George Hunt on October 21, 2012 at 1:20am

I would say it means "she looked just 18" although the use of "faire" makes me feel that is isn't just appearance but her whole general demeanour.

Maybe "she acted" might be close (if I am right) .

I think the use of "en" in this kind of an expression is hard to pin down as to what it means exactly.I think you have to take the expression as a whole.

I like using "en" because it seems a bit like the joker in the pack that takes its meaning from the words around it .

"J'en ai marre" means "I am fed up (with)" . I have no idea what "marre" actually means but the expression is crystal clear!