Apart from using a clock to tell time, the French use the following words to express something happening in time:

1. Pendant
2. il y a
3. depuis
4. durant
5. pour
6. ça fait

In this aide mémoire, we’ll explore these expressions.

Pendant and Durant: Used for a limited duration of time that is a habit or that happened in the past.  In an explanation of something (e.g., a procedure, policy, directive, situation), pendant may be used with the present tense, but it is most often seen in the past tense.  Our preferred choice for the oral test is pendant over durant.

Example:  Je me suis endormi pendant le concert./ I fell asleep during the concert.  Note that we don’t have a specific time of say 30 minutes but the time started and ended with the length of the film.

Example:  Pendant combien de temps avez-vous étudié l’anglais./ How long did you study English for.  It is implied here that you did it and finished.  The response would be J’ai étudié l’anglais pendant cinq ans./ I studied English for five years.

Example : Il se brosse les dents pendant 3 minutes tous les matins./ He brushes his teeth for 3 minutes every morning.  Note how pendant is used and not pour.

Il y a: Indicates a point of time in the past that finished.  Think of it in English like “ago” or “it has been…since”.

Example: J’y ai travaillé il y a six ans./ I worked there six years ago.

Example: Le chat est revenu il y a 10 minutes./ The cat came back 10 minutes ago.

Depuis: Depuis means “for,” “how long,” or “since” and is used in a past tense to discuss an action that began in the past and continues today, in the present.   It can also be used to indicate a time in the past that was interrupted by another action.

Example: Depuis quand étudiez-vous le français?/Since when do you study French or For how long have you been studying French?  This means you started studying some time ago (maybe even 5 minutes ago) and are still studying French—congrats, keep it up!

Example:  Depuis combien de temps le cambrioleur était-il dans votre maison avant que vous n’appeliez la police?/ How long had the burglar been in your house before you called the police?  Note in this example that the burglar was doing an action before another action occurred.  Both actions were in the past.

Pour:  Pour or “for” when dealing with time is normally reserved for the future.  Pendant can also be used in these examples, but knowing how pour is used will help with the grammar and speaking exams.

Example: Je vais me rendre à Montréal pour trois mois./ I’m going to Montreal for three months.

Pour is also used in phrases to mean “for” when not related to time (like in order to).

Ça fait:  Ça fait is a third person phrase that means “it has been” as in “it has been a while”.  In this case, fait does not change its conjugation and remains in the fait form.

The following table summarizes the points