Experiences and changes in French: depuis, pendant and il y a

Level B1

Experiences and changes in French: depuis, pendant and il y a

Tell someone what has changed in your work and where you live. The central choice is whether a situation still continues, how long a completed experience lasted, or when something happened. Match the time expression and verb to that meaning, then use encore or ne…plus to make continuity or change clear.

Bring back the past and present

Habiter means to live somewhere and travailler means to work: “J’habite ici” is “I live here”. “Je travaillais le samedi” describes a past habit: “I used to work on Saturdays”. “Je ne travaille plus ici” means “I don’t work here anymore”: it was true before but is no longer true now. In this lesson, keep the imperfect for the past habit, the present for the current situation, and ai + habité/travaillé for a completed period.

Words for one changing life

Mars is March, mois means month or months, and deux ans means two years. Depuis introduces a situation continuing up to now, with a length of time or a starting point; pendant gives a duration, and il y a dates an event before now. The isolated card for duration says depuis: hear pendant in the complete sentence examples below. Encore here means still, and ne…plus means no longer.

Two friends catch up

Two friends are talking in the place where one of them lives and used to work. A asks “How long have you lived here?”, B answers “I’ve lived here for two years”; A then asks whether B still works here, and B says that has ended. Depuis combien de temps asks how long a situation has continued, and the question uses familiar tu. Listen for the contrast: living continues, working here does not.

It started before and still continues

“J’habite ici depuis deux ans” means “I’ve lived here for two years”: the person still lives here. French uses the present habite for this continuing situation, where English normally uses the present perfect, not “I live here for two years”. With depuis mars, March is the starting point; with depuis deux ans, two years is the elapsed length. Both describe a situation continuing now; depuis does not itself require a past verb.

J'habite ici depuis deux ans / mars

How long a completed experience lasted

“J’ai travaillé ici pendant trois mois” presents a completed three-month period of work here. “J’ai habité à Rome pendant deux ans” does the same for living in Rome: Rome is a place name and à Rome means in Rome. Ai travaillé and ai habité are completed-past forms; pendant gives their duration, not the date when they happened. English for can translate both pendant and depuis, so use the meaning and verb time to choose the French expression; pendant can also describe durations in other time frames.

J'ai travaillé ici pendant trois mois

When it happened, not how long it lasted

“J’ai travaillé ici il y a deux ans” places the work two years before today; it does not say the work lasted two years. French puts il y a before the length of time, whereas English puts ago after it. Here il y a means ago, not the existence expression “there is”.

For recognition only, the last example uses literary arriva: “Il y a deux ans, elle arriva ici” means “Two years ago, she arrived here”. Arriva is a completed event in written narrative; in an everyday account, elle est arrivée ici expresses that arrival. You do not need to produce literary forms here.

J'ai travaillé ici il y a deux ans

Still true or no longer true?

“Je travaille encore ici” says the work here continues; “Je ne travaille plus ici” says it has stopped. Keep ne before the verb and plus after it in these present-tense negatives, without adding pas. Encore also has other meanings, but here it means still, not again. In “Avant, je travaillais ici. Maintenant, je travaille à la maison”, avant means before, maintenant means now, and à la maison means at home: the imperfect describes the old habit and the present the current situation.

Je travaille encore / ne travaille plus ici.

Say what continues and what has changed

You are speaking about yourself to a friend; each answer begins with “I”. Before playing the examples, say in French, in this order: “I’ve lived here since March”; “I worked here for three months, and that period is over”; “I worked here two years ago”; “I still work here”; “I don’t work here anymore”. These are separate possible situations, not one contradictory story. Then listen and compare with the five answers; change only the time expression or continuation marker that the meaning requires.

Choose the meaning before the expression

For a situation continuing now, use the present with depuis plus a duration or a starting point: “J’habite ici depuis deux ans”. For the length of the completed work here, use ai travaillé with pendant; to date that work before today, use il y a. Encore says a situation still holds, while ne…plus says it has ended. Try telling a friend one fact that still holds and one thing that has changed, using the models you have just heard.

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