Bien que je veuille me reposer, je n'EN ai pas le temps !

M K.C1Kwiziq community member

Bien que je veuille me reposer, je n'EN ai pas le temps !

This is not a question about the subjunctive mood, but the sentence was an exercise of it, so I ask my question here.

What is the role of "en" in the following sentence: "Bien que je veuille me reposer, je n'EN ai pas le temps !" Does it mean "I don't have the time for it."? Could you also just write "Bien que je veuille me reposer, je n'ai pas le temps !" without the "en"?

Asked 2 years ago
Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

To expand a bit on Jim's answer:

Je n'ai pas le temps de me reposer. -- I don't have the time to rest.
Je n'en ai pas le temps. -- I don't have the time for it. As you can see, en replaces de me reposer.

En can replace de + [phrase] (French Adverbial Pronouns)

 

Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Hi M,

I agree with your proposal "I don't have the time FOR it" 

I guess that we could write "Je n'ai pas le temps" but that would not be specific to the need/desire to rest.

Bonne journée

Jim

Bien que je veuille me reposer, je n'EN ai pas le temps !

This is not a question about the subjunctive mood, but the sentence was an exercise of it, so I ask my question here.

What is the role of "en" in the following sentence: "Bien que je veuille me reposer, je n'EN ai pas le temps !" Does it mean "I don't have the time for it."? Could you also just write "Bien que je veuille me reposer, je n'ai pas le temps !" without the "en"?

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
Let me take a look at that...