Search from various English teachers...
United States flagTodd
Je n'en suis pas là?

I was listening to a song just now ("The Winner Is..." by Priscilla), and there's a line that goes "mais je n'en suis pas là" - I'm having trouble with this construction. I take it to mean "but I'm not there yet." Why is 'en' there? Is it referring to something previously mentioned? Here's the entire verse: 

Mmmm je vois Johny Depp au bras 
devant tous les photographes 
mon meilleure sourir 
le monde à genou 
mais je n'en suis pas là 
je travail ma voix 
je me donne des coups et du temps pour aller haut 

I'm able to understand the rest, but the en is throwing me off. I thought maybe there was such a verb as en être, but I don't think that's the case. And I thought en as an adverb replaces the preposition de or an adverb of quantity, etc. 

If someone could clarify, it'd be greatly appreciated.

Comments · 4

1

"je n'en suis pas là" is to be understood as "I haven't achived that yet" (I don't think 'en' refers to anything, it might be an idiom).


By the way, those lyrics have many mistakes (I haven't hear the song, but it should be close):

Je me vois Johnny Depp au bras

Devant tous les photographes

Mon meilleur sourire

Le monde à genou

Mais je n'en suis pas là

Je travaille ma voix

Je me donne des coups et du temps pour aller haut

1

Hello !

I think "en" refers here a situation. "Je n'en suis pas là" = "Je ne suis pas encore dans cette situation".

The situation in this text should be fame (Johny Depp, photographes..) but I don't have all the context.

0

Thank you both! I see now that there are mistakes. I copied the lyrics directly from a website, so whoever submitted them must've done so incorrectly. 


Also, "je me vois..." has to be right, I'd say. It makes much more sense and I understand what she's saying now better than I did before.

0
I too have trouble with what I see as "extra" pronouns an other small words that don't seem (to me) to add anything to the sentence.  I hope someone answers this!

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn a language from the comfort of your own home. Browse our selection of experienced language tutors and enroll in your first lesson now!

Start Learning Today