une. » ("I ate an apple." → "I ate one.") « J'ai mangé quelques pommes. » → Jen ai mangé quelques-unes. ("I ate a number of apples." → "I ate a number of them.") introduced by another expression of quantity (usually an adverb + de) « J'ai vendu beaucoup de jus de pomme. » → « Jen ai vendu beaucoup. » ("I sold a lot of apple juice." → "I sold a lot.") « J'ai acheté trois kilogrammes de pommes. » → « Jen ai acheté trois kilogrammes. » ("I bought three kilograms of apples." → "I bought three kilograms.") It is used idiomatically with certain verbs, without replacing anything: « J'en veux à Jean. » ("I am mad at Jean.") « Je vais en finir avec lui. » ("I am going to finish things off with him.") Clitic order French personal pronouns, aside from their disjunctive forms, are all clitics, and the order of pronominal clitics as well as the negative clitic ne is strictly determined as follows. Only one clitic can be used for each slot. Where one wishes to express an idea that would involve slots that cannot coexist or multiple pronouns from the same slot, the indirect object is expressed as the object of à or pour (thus Je me donne à toi – "I give myself to you"). The use of more than two clitics beyond the subject and, where necessary, ne is uncommon; constructions such as Je lui y en ai donné may be perceived as unacceptable, and other constructions must then be used to express the same ideas. Proclitic order Slots 3 and 5 cannot coexist. Enclitic order Used only for positive imperatives. Slots 2 and 3 cannot coexist. The clitics -moi and -toi become -m' and -t' respectively when followed by either -en or -y. In colloquial French, however, it is possible to keep -moi and -toi intact and change -en and -y to -z-en and -z-y respectively, or to put slot 5 before slot 3, or less commonly, before slot 1 or 2. ex. The imperative sentences corresponding to « Tu m'en donnes »: « Donne-m'en. » (formal) « Donne-moi-z-en. » (informal) « Donnes-en-moi. » (informal) See also French pronouns References Personal pronouns Pronouns by language