Use of "en" rather than "y"

Question

In "she gives me four every week," shouldn't it be "elle m'y donne" rather than "elle m'en donne"?  Isn't "en" only used where the article is "de"?  As far as I know, it's "donner à," not "donner de."

Accepted Answer

Hi  Ramsay,
The pronoun en in this case refers to quantities  and replaces the noun it refers to.
e.g. Vous avez des enfants? oui, j'en ai deux  or je n'en ai pas ( en replaces the noun enfants )
Do you have children ? yes, I have two (of them) or I don't have any ( of them) .
Je voudrais des pommes . Vous en voulez combien ? j'en voudrais un kilo svp. ( en replaces the noun pommes)
I'd like some apples.  How many would you like? I'd like a kilo ( of them ) please .
Hope this helps!

Answer

Hi Shrey,
In the case of the 'ordonnance' it would be -
Le médecin m'en a fait une = The doctor gave me one ( a prescription)
Hope this helps!

Answer

Good question, Ramsey, but look at this sentence:
Elle donne quatre œufs à Anne. She gives four eggs to Anne.
Elle en donne quatre à Anne. She gives four of them to Anne.
The "en" in this sentence refers to the collections of eggs, of which she gives four to Ann. It does not refer to "à Anne". And even then you couldn't replace "à Anne" by "y" because Anne is a person and "y" shouldn't be used to refer to persons.
But:
Elle met quatre œufs sur la table. She puts four eggs on the table.
Elle y en met quatre. She puts four of them there.
Hope that helps,
-- Chris (not a native speaker).

Answer

Bonjour Madame Cécile !If a sentence is provided-> Le médecin m’a fait une ordonnance. Here, while replacing the word “ordonnance” with “en” , will the sentence be like-Le médecin m’en a fait. OR Le médecin m’ en a fait une ?I had learnt from one of your answers that when we need to emphasise a quantity then we write the expressions like - beaucoup, deux kilos.How will we judge this aspect here ?Merci encore Madame! Bonne journée!