English Translation
I’ll go if you go.
Can someone explain why there is the “y” in tu y vas?
It’s like saying, “I’ll go if you go there”.
The pronoun y usually means ‘there’ and the same position rules apply as for direct object pronouns. For example:
- Elle est à la banque . Elle y est pour changer de l’argent. – She is at the bank. She is there to change money.
You can read more here.
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Your question is possibly, as well, why y before vas only, and not before irai.
It is simply standard practice to avoid the hiatus between the two i sounds in that expression.
A linguistic mutilation to please the ears called haplology (not unique to the French language).
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