In this lesson, we will learn more advanced time expressions that are common in French: “en train de,” “venir de,” “depuis,” and “ça fait.”
“En train de”
The French language does not have a present or past continuous tense equivalent to that in English, e.g., “I am/was speaking.” It is common to use the simple present tense in French to talk about actions that are happening right now, e.g., “Je parle” (I am talking), “Qu’est-ce que tu fais?” (What are you doing?), etc. We have also seen in Lesson 6 of this level how the imperfect can be used sometimes to describe the past continuous in English, e.g., “Pendant que tu étudiais, je regardais la télé” (While you were studying, I was watching TV).
To emphasize the continuous state of an action, one could use the expression “être en train de” (to be in the process of). Here are some examples:
| Je suis en train de parler. | I am speaking. |
| Il est en train de manger. | He is eating. |
| Nous sommes en train de jouer. | We are playing. |
The verb “être” (to be) can be used in the imperfect to describe actions that were happening continuously in the past, for example:
| J’étais en train de parler. | I was speaking. |
| Il était en train de manger. | He was eating. |
| Nous étions en train de jouer. | We were playing. |
Similarly, the conditional continuous tense can be expressed by using the verb “être” in the simple conditional tense, for example:
| Je serais en train de parler. | I would be speaking. |
| Il serait en train de manger. | He would be eating. |
| Nous serions en train de jouer. | We would be playing. |
Unless you want to stress the continuous nature of an action, simple tenses are often used instead of the expression “être en train de” in most situations.
“Venir de”
The verb “venir” (to come) is used in the expression “venir de” to express the recent past, often described in English as “having just done something.” In this case, the verb “venir” is conjugated in the simple present indicative tense. Let us take some examples:
| Je viens de finir de manger. | I have just finished eating. |
| Il vient d’arriver il y a peu de temps. | He has just arrived a while ago. |
| Nous venons d’atterrir à Londres. | We have just landed in London. |
If the verb “venir” is in the imperfect, it describes something that “had just happened” before something else happened next, for example:
| Je venais de terminer avant que tu appelles. | I had just finished before you called. |
| Il venait d’arriver quand je m’apprêtais à sortir. | He had just arrived when I was about to go out. |
| J’ai appris la nouvelle après que nous venions d’atterrir à Londres. | I heard the news after we had just landed in London. |
“Depuis”
Depending on the context, “depuis” can mean “since” or “for.”
If used to indicate a point in time in the past, it is usually translated as “since,” for example:
| J’habite ici depuis avril dernier. | I have been living here since last April. |
| Je joue au football depuis que je suis enfant. | I have played football since I was a child. |
| Je n’ai pas voyagé depuis 2019. | I haven’t traveled since 2019. |
On the other hand, “depuis” translates as “for” when describing a duration of time, for example:
| J’habite ici depuis deux ans. | I have been living here for two years. |
| Je n’ai pas voyagé depuis trois ans. | I haven’t traveled for three years. |
Notice that in both sets of examples, when the statement is in the affirmative, the sentence preceding “depuis” is in the present simple tense in French although the English equivalent is in the present perfect or present perfect continuous.
If the sentence preceding “depuis” is in the past tense in French, it is often translated into the past perfect in English, for example:
| Je n’avais pas mangé depuis ton arrivée. | I hadn’t eaten since you arrived. |
| Nous te cherchions depuis des heures quand tu as appelé. | We had been looking for you for hours when you called. |
Alternatively, “pour” or “pendant” can replace “depuis” when used meaning “for” if the French verb is in the past, for example:
| Nous te cherchions pour des heures quand tu as appelé. | We had been looking for you for hours when you called. |
| Nous te cherchions pendant des heures quand tu as appelé. | We had been looking for you for hours when you called. |
“Ça fait”
The expression “ça fait … que …” using the verb “faire” is often used in informal speech. It often translates as “it’s been … that …” Let us take some examples:
| Ça fait deux ans que j’habite ici. | I have been living here for two years. |
| Ça fait trois ans que je n’ai pas voyagé. | I haven’t traveled for three years. |
Alternatively, “il y a” or “voilà” can replace “ça fait” in the previous examples, for instance:
| Il y a deux ans que j’habite ici. | I have been living here for two years. |
| Voilà trois ans que je n’ai pas voyagé. | I haven’t traveled for three years. |
Other lessons in Level V:
