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Get prepared to learn all the things you ever wanted to know about the basic phrase “On y va”.
Including a full guide of what it is and how you can use it in a normal conversation with an audio example. And because learning a new language is important, we also sprinkled super useful stuff like dialogue example, slow pronunciation audio, synonym and more!
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French people are using “On y va” (Let’s go) when they are on the verge of going somewhere or starting something (typically: a group activity).
It’s composed of “On” (Us), the adverbial pronoun “y” which refers to the place you are going or what you are starting and “va” from the verb “aller” (to go).
Because this is conjugated with “Us” (On) it implies that you are included in the “Us“. If you are not included, because you are not going or not taking part in the activity, use instead “Allez-y“.
You are waiting for your friends to enter the theater, and a group of people politely ask you if they can pass before you. You answer: “Bien sûr, allez-y” (Sure, go).
Your friends finally arrive, you want to be sure they are all ready, so you ask: “On y va ?” (Let’s go?). Because this time you are included in the group.
They are all ready, then you can say: “On y va.” (Let’s go.)
Also, if you want to be more precise about where you are going or what you are going to do, replace “y” by the place or activity. Ex: “On va au cinéma.” (We are going to the theater.)
If you want to use the slang versions, you have the choice between “Allez !” (Go!), “C’est tipar” (Reversed version of “C’est parti“) or even “C’est parti mon kiki” (literally: “Let’s go my hoo-ha“.)