Click on the French expressions to hear pronunciations.
| FRENCH | ENGLISH |
|---|---|
| La durée | duration |
| "Il y a" - ago Indicates that something happened a certain time ago. It refers to a completed action. |
|
| Structure: il y a + duration/time + past tense | |
| C'était il y a plus de deux ans. | It was more than two years ago. |
| Il y a trois jours, nous sommes rentrés d’Europe. | Three days ago, we came back from Europe. |
| On s'est rencontrés il y a 7 ans. | We met 7 years ago. |
| "depuis" - since / for Refers to an action that started in the past and is still ongoing. It is often followed by a time expression (like a date, a duration, or an event). |
|
| Structure: present tense + depuis + duration/time | On est mariés depuis vingt-troi ans. | We've been married for 23 years. |
| T'es là depuis longtemps ? | Have you been here a long time? |
| Depuis quand ? | Since when? |
| Depuis ce matin. | Since this morning. |
| J'ai ça depuis des années. | I have had it for years. |
| Depuis combien de temps ? | For how long? |
| Je savais qu'elle mentait depuis le début. | I know she was lying from the start. |
| Je le dis depuis le début. | I have been saying that since the beginning. |
| Je suis levée depuis six heures. | I have been up since 6 o'clock. |
| Depuis pas longtemps. | Not for long. |
| Pas longtemps. | Not for long. |
| "pendant" - for / during Describes the entire duration of a completed action. |
|
| pendant des générations | for generations |
| pendant des heures | for hours |
| J'étais institutrice pendant 25 ans. | I was a primary school teacher for 25 years. |
| pendant une visite | during a visit |
| Tu fais quoi pendant tout ça ? | What are you doing during all this? |
| pendant la deuxième semaine | during the second week |
| "pour" - for Used when talking about the duration of a future event. |
|
| pour deux nuits | for two nights |
| Nous partons pour un mois. | We are going away for a month. |
| "depuis que" - since / ever since as a conjunction Introduces a clause to show when an action began. |
|
| depuis que je suis né | since I was born |
| depuis que je suis petit | since I was little |
| depuis que je vous connais | since I've known you |
| "Ça fait… que" - It's been...that similar to "il y a," this expression emphasizes the duration of time. |
|
| Ça fait des années que j'attends. | I've been waiting for years. |
| Ça fait 30 ans que j'y habite. | I've been living here for 30 years. |
| Ça fait longtemps que ça dure ? | Has it been going on for a long time? |
| Ça fait longtemps que je l’ai pas vue. | It's been a long time since I saw her. |