In example question 1 of this lesson, you say: "Croyez-vous qu’il arrive bientôt ? Oui, ... crois." (Do you believe he'll get there soon? Yes, I believe so.)
Doesn't "Croyez-vous qu’il arrive bientôt?" mean "Do you think it's coming soon?".
Shouldn't it be "Croyez-vous qu'il y arrivera bientôt?"
Croyez-vous qu'il arrive bientôt? -- Do you think he'll arrive soon. To which the reply is:
Oui, je le crois. -- Yes, I believe so.
The object of the lesson is to teach the use of le to refer back to a previously mentioned idea. In this case, le (or the "so" in English) refers back to the previously mentioned question of whether he'll arrive soon or not.
Croyez-vous qu'il y arrivera bientôt? -- Do you think he will arrive there soon?
This sentence is grammatically correct but has a slightly different meaning. Using y, it specifically refers to a location which is not the one at which the speaker is. Secondly, using future simple tense (arrivera), it refers to a more distant future than the present tense in French (remember, present tense in French is also used to talk about things about to happen soon).
Follow up question -- Is the arrive in the present subjunctive, implying doubt that he will arrive soon?
HI Dan,
Sorry I missed your follow-up question.
The answer is that you are correct in your thinking.
Bonne Continuation !
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