Voted Best Answer
Apr 09, 2020 - 03:08 AM
Hi tommyzdad,
You're right to mention that we don't study this specific expression in any previous lessons, so here's an explanation for you:
We do study "il y a" quite early in the program:
Il y a = There is (but in French this "a" comes from "avoir", not from "être" like in English)
We then teach the structures with the adverb "y", as in:
Il aime bien ce restaurant, il Y mange tous les jours = He likes this restaurant, he eats there every day
We also teach the near future with "aller + verb":
Il aime bien ce restaurant, il va y manger demain = He likes this restaurant, he's going to eat there tomorrow
Remember that "y" always goes right before the verb it refers to, here "manger"
The phrase you're mentioning is actually a combination of the three:
Il y a beaucoup de monde à la maison aujourd'hui = There is a lot of people at home today
In the near future: Il va y avoir beaucoup de monde à la maison ce soir = There is doing to be a lot of people at home tonight
(Y still goes right before the verb it refers to, here "a" from "avoir")
Yet it IS indeed a very specific expression, which makes it confusing to translate, so don't get frustrated it's perfectly normal to get it wrong at first!! This is why the phrase only showed up in a repeating exercise at first, but now that these phrases also show up in the flashcards, you're right that it makes the exercise a bit more complex.
We'll make sure to replace this particular phrase, and hope you don't bump into any others like this, if you do please let us know, it helps us make the program each time better, so in any case thanks a lot for your feedback, and Bonne chance pour la suite du programme!!
You're right to mention that we don't study this specific expression in any previous lessons, so here's an explanation for you:
We do study "il y a" quite early in the program:
Il y a = There is (but in French this "a" comes from "avoir", not from "être" like in English)
We then teach the structures with the adverb "y", as in:
Il aime bien ce restaurant, il Y mange tous les jours = He likes this restaurant, he eats there every day
We also teach the near future with "aller + verb":
Il aime bien ce restaurant, il va y manger demain = He likes this restaurant, he's going to eat there tomorrow
Remember that "y" always goes right before the verb it refers to, here "manger"
The phrase you're mentioning is actually a combination of the three:
Il y a beaucoup de monde à la maison aujourd'hui = There is a lot of people at home today
In the near future: Il va y avoir beaucoup de monde à la maison ce soir = There is doing to be a lot of people at home tonight
(Y still goes right before the verb it refers to, here "a" from "avoir")
Yet it IS indeed a very specific expression, which makes it confusing to translate, so don't get frustrated it's perfectly normal to get it wrong at first!! This is why the phrase only showed up in a repeating exercise at first, but now that these phrases also show up in the flashcards, you're right that it makes the exercise a bit more complex.
We'll make sure to replace this particular phrase, and hope you don't bump into any others like this, if you do please let us know, it helps us make the program each time better, so in any case thanks a lot for your feedback, and Bonne chance pour la suite du programme!!
