Pronouns
Je parle de mon frere.
Why is it "J'en parle." I thought en is only for things and not for people. Should it be Je lui parle. ?
Thank you for using the Jiskha Homework Help Forum. The pronoun "en" replaces "de + noun," and GENERALLY refers to things. It can however also refer to a person as in "de mon frère" = I speak of him. Of course you could also use a "Stress/Disjunctive Pronoun" = Je parle de lui.
Mme
The pronoun "en" in French is indeed commonly used to replace things, not people. However, in certain situations where we talk about people, we can still use "en" to replace a previously mentioned phrase or idea.
In the sentence "Je parle de mon frère" (I am talking about my brother), you want to replace the phrase "de mon frère" (about my brother) with a pronoun. Instead of using "lui" (him) as you suggested, which would be appropriate for a person, you can use "en" to refer back to the previously mentioned concept of "de mon frère".
So, "J'en parle" translates to "I talk about it" or "I am talking about it" (where "it" refers to the idea or concept of "de mon frère").
To better understand when to use "en", think about what you are replacing. If it's a thing, use "en". If it's a person, use appropriate pronouns like "lui" (him) or "leur" (them).
Here are a few more examples to illustrate the use of "en" in different contexts:
- "J'ai des livres. J'en ai acheté beaucoup." (I have some books. I bought a lot of them.)
- "J'ai parlé de mes amis. J'en ai dit du bien." (I talked about my friends. I said good things about them.)
Remember that pronoun usage can sometimes vary depending on the context, so it's always helpful to listen to native speakers and read in order to develop a better intuition for when to use each pronoun correctly.