Lesson 20: Depuis / il y a / pendant / dans. Être en train de

Part 1: The big brain switch

If an action started in the past and is still going right now, French uses the present tense, not a perfect tense.

Lock this in: depuis + present tense = action is still happening. This is the single most common A2 rule that trips up English speakers, because English forces a "have been ___ing" form there. French refuses.

English-speaker trap. Do NOT say J'ai habité ici depuis 5 ans. That's English logic with French words. The action is still going, so French insists on the present: J'habite.

Part 2: The four time markers — at a glance

The English mapping is not one-to-one. English uses for in two completely different situations that French splits in two:

• I have been working here for 3 years → French: depuis (still going, present tense)
• I worked for 3 hours yesterday → French: pendant (finished, any tense)

Same English word, two French words. Pick by whether the action is still happening now.

Traps

Trap 1. Il y a has TWO meanings:

• Il y a un chat sur le lit. — "there is / there are" (Lesson 5)
• Il est parti il y a 2 jours. — "2 days ago" Same words, different jobs. Context picks.

Trap 2. Pendant is often droppable: J'ai dormi (pendant) 8 heures — both are correct. Depuis, dans, and il y a are NEVER droppable.

Trap 3. Dans vs en — both translate as English "in", but:

• Je le fais dans une heure. — I'll start it in an hour (one hour from now).
• Je le fais en une heour. — I'll spend an hour doing it (duration to complete).

Part 3: Depuis — two formats

Format 1: depuis + duration

J'apprends le français depuis 6 mois. — I've been learning French for 6 months.

Format 2: depuis + point in time

J'apprends le français depuis septembre. — I've been learning French since September. J'habite à Paris depuis 2020. — I've been living in Paris since 2020. Elle dort depuis midi. — She's been sleeping since noon.

English splits these with two different prepositions (for vs since). French uses depuis for both. Easier than English, actually — once you stop translating word by word.

Asking "how long have you been ___ing?"

Notice again — every one of those questions uses the present tense of apprendre. Never a perfect tense.

Alternatives to depuis (very common in speech)

All four sentences mean exactly the same thing: "I've been living here for 3 years." Ça fait … que is the most colloquial and the most useful first — drill it.

Part 4: Être en train de — happening RIGHT NOW

French has no equivalent of the English Present Continuous (I am eating). The plain je mange covers both "I eat" and "I am eating". Usually that's enough.

But if you need to emphasize "right now, at this very moment", French has a dedicated construction: être en train de + infinitive.

When to use it: when you need to say "I'm busy, not now" / "it's happening as we speak" / when interrupting matters. In casual contexts the bare present is enough. Je mange on the phone already implies "right now". Add être en train de only when you want to push the "in the middle of" feeling.

English-speaker trap. Don't reach for être en train de every time English uses -ing. I'm learning French in the general sense is just J'apprends le français — that's a long-running fact, not a "right this second" action. Use être en train de only for the live, in-progress, "interrupt me at your peril" sense.

Don't confuse the trio:

• Je vais manger. — I'm going to eat (futur proche, Lesson 9).
• Je suis en train de manger. — I'm eating right now.
• Je viens de manger. — I just ate (Lesson 10).

Part 5: The "just / right now / about to" triad

These are the three pillars that surround the French present. Learn them as a set — they're the closest French gets to English's continuous and perfect tenses, all jammed inside the present.