PRÉPOSITIONS AVEC LE TEMPS

DEPUIS, PENDANT, & IL Y A

The French prepositions depuis, pendant, and—far less commonly—pour each express the duration of an event a little differently, with the result that many English speakers mix up depuis and pendant and overuse pour.

DEPUIS

Depuis means "since" or "for." It

is used with a French verb in the

present tense to talk about an

action that began in the past and

continues in the present.

EXEMPLES

Depuis quand étudiez-vous le

français ?

   How long have you studied

French?

EXEMPLES

   J'étudie le français depuis 3 ans.

   I've studied French for 3 years (and

still do).

EXEMPLES

   J'étudie le français depuis

2009.

   I've been studying French

since 2009.

PENDANT

Pendant means "for" and

refers to the entire duration of

an action in the past or future,

with no relation to the present.

EXEMPLES

Pendant combien de temps

avez-vous étudié le

français ?  

   How long did you study

French?

EXEMPLES

J'ai étudié le français

pendant 3 ans.

   I studied French for 3 years

(and then stopped).

EXEMPLES

   Je vais habiter en France

pendant 2 mois.

   I'm going to live in France for 2

months.

PENDANT

Pendant followed by a noun

means "during." In this sense,

it is synonymous with durant.

EXEMPLES

J'ai vu un film pendant mon séjour.

    I saw a film during my stay.

 Pendant ce temps, il m'attendait.

    During this time, he waited

for me.

IL Y A…

“Il y a” means "ago" and can

only be used for things that are

already completed. The verb in

the sentence must be in the past

and il y a must be followed by

some reference to time.

EXEMPLES

   Je suis arrivée il y a une heure.

    I arrived an hour ago.

 Il a parlé il y a 5 minutes.

    He spoke 5 minutes ago.

   Il y a deux jours, j'ai vu un chat noir.

    Two days ago, I saw a black

cat.