can you say "Je en connais certains" instead of "Je connais certains d'entre eux"?

Juke B1Kwiziq community member

can you say "Je en connais certains" instead of "Je connais certains d'entre eux"?

This question relates to:French lesson "Certain(e)s d'entre eux/elles = Some of them (French Indefinite Pronouns)"

Asked 7 years ago

AurélieKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Bonjour Juke !

You could indeed use "en" to replace the group introduced by "de" :
"J'en connais certains."
There would be a slight nuance:
- "Je connais certains d'entre eux." = I know some of them.
- "J'en connais certains." = I know some [of them].
In the second case, there is less emphasis on "them".

I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !

Like37 years ago

MaxC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

It would IMO be more idiomatique and less stuffy to say J'en connais quelques-uns.

Like05 years ago

Juke asked:View original

can you say "Je en connais certains" instead of "Je connais certains d'entre eux"?

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