Does ‘Vas-y’ mean ‘Let’s go’ or ‘Go there’ or either, depending on context?

Richard M.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Does ‘Vas-y’ mean ‘Let’s go’ or ‘Go there’ or either, depending on context?

I’ve seen both answers given in the space of half a hour. Does it depend on context or is this a mistake? Or am I mistaken? Merci.

Asked 1 year ago
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi Richard,

You would use 

Vas-y ! = Go on /Go ahead!

if you were addressing one person you say 'tu' to.

Allez-y! = Go on/ Go ahead!

to a person you say 'vous' to or a collection of people.

You would use 

Allons-y != Let's go!

If you are included in the group.

Hope this helps!

Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Bonjour Richard,

Taking "go there" first  --  This can be understood to be a command or order and therefore triggers the Imperative mood.

 "Tu" of l'impératif is va, but we have a syntactic problem if we try to express this as va-y because "y" is a vowel.

So we have to use "vas-y" to avoid two vowels together for syntactic reasons.

"Let's go" is also expressed as "Vas-y". Perhaps a command, but with a softer register.

Generally, I agree with your headline point with respect to context.

Bonne journée

Jim

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Vas-y! -- Go there! Go ahead! Go on!
On y va! -- Let's go!

Does ‘Vas-y’ mean ‘Let’s go’ or ‘Go there’ or either, depending on context?

I’ve seen both answers given in the space of half a hour. Does it depend on context or is this a mistake? Or am I mistaken? Merci.

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
Getting that for you now...