y aller
(Redirected from vas-y doucement)
See also: yaller
French[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Verb[edit]
y aller (conjugation of aller)
- (informal) to leave; to depart
- Synonym: s’en aller
- (informal, figuratively, with an adverb or an adverbial phrase) to go about something, to proceed in a certain manner
- Vas-y mollo ! ― Easy does it.
- y aller mollo avec quelqu’un ― to go easy on someone
- y aller franco ― to make no bones about something, to get straight to the point
- ne pas y aller de main morte ― to be heavy-handed.
- ne pas y aller par quatre chemins ― to go straight to the point
- ne pas y aller avec le dos de la cuillère ― to not to go in for half measures
- y aller doucement ― to take it easy
- y aller franchement ― to go at it
- Tu ne crois pas que tu y vas un peu fort ? ― Don't you think you're going a bit far?
- il faut y aller quand même ! ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
Conjugation[edit]
The verb aller has a unique and highly irregular conjugation. The second-person singular imperative va additionally combines with y to form vas-y instead of the expected va-y.
Conjugation of y aller (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | y aller | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | y être + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | y allant /i.j‿a.lɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | y étant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | allé /a.le/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | y vais /i vɛ/ |
y vas /i va/ |
y va /i va/ |
y allons /i.j‿a.lɔ̃/ |
y allez /i.j‿a.le/ |
y vont /i vɔ̃/ |
| imperfect | y allais /i.j‿a.lɛ/ |
y allais /i.j‿a.lɛ/ |
y allait /i.j‿a.lɛ/ |
y allions /i.j‿a.ljɔ̃/ |
y alliez /i.j‿a.lje/ |
y allaient /i.j‿a.lɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | y allai /i.j‿ale/ |
y allas /i.j‿ala/ |
y alla /i.j‿ala/ |
y allâmes /i.j‿alam/ |
y allâtes /i.j‿alat/ |
y allèrent /i.j‿alɛʁ/ | |
| future | y irai /i.j‿i.ʁe/ |
y iras /i.j‿i.ʁa/ |
y ira /i.j‿i.ʁa/ |
y irons /i.j‿i.ʁɔ̃/ |
y irez /i.j‿i.ʁe/ |
y iront /i.j‿i.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | y irais /i.j‿i.ʁɛ/ |
y irais /i.j‿i.ʁɛ/ |
y irait /i.j‿i.ʁɛ/ |
y irions /i.j‿i.ʁjɔ̃/ |
y iriez /i.j‿i.ʁje/ |
y iraient /i.j‿i.ʁɛ/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of y être + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative of y être + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior2 | past historic of y être + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future of y être + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional of y être + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | y aille /i.j‿aj/ |
y ailles /i.j‿aj/ |
y aille /i.j‿aj/ |
y allions /i.j‿a.ljɔ̃/ |
y alliez /i.j‿a.lje/ |
y aillent /i.j‿aj/ |
| imperfect2 | y allasse /i.j‿alas/ |
y allasses /i.j‿alas/ |
y allât /i.j‿ala/ |
y allassions /i.j‿ala.sjɔ̃/ |
y allassiez /i.j‿ala.sje/ |
y allassent /i.j‿alas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of y être + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of y être + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | vas-y /va.zi/ |
— | allons-y /a.lɔ̃.zi/ |
allez-y /a.le.zi/ |
— | |
| compound | — | simple imperative of y être + past participle | — | simple imperative of y être + past participle | simple imperative of y être + past participle | — | |
| 1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||