Three French expressions: depuis, pendant, and il y a, all translate roughly as “for” or “ago” when talking about time in English. That overlap also makes them confusing. Each of the three indicates a different relationship between an action and time, and each one also triggers a different verb tense in French. Getting them straight is worth the effort because they’re among the most frequently used time expressions in the language.
Depuis (Since/For)
Depuis is used for situations that started in the past and are still ongoing at the time of speaking. The key word is “still” indicating that the action or state continues into the present. French uses the present tense here, where in English we would use the present perfect (the “have been/has been,” etc. tense).
Je suis ici depuis plus d’un an. (“I have been here for more than a year.”)
Elle habite notre village depuis Pâques. (“She has been living in our village since Easter.”)
Je le connais depuis le lycée. (“I have known him since high school.”)
In each of these cases, the action is still happening right now. The person is still here. She’s still living in the village. He still knows him. That’s why French uses the present tense: the situation hasn’t ended.
Compare with a case where the action has ended:
Il n’est pas venu ici depuis plus d’un an. (“He hasn’t been here for more than a year.”)
Here the action is in the past with no continuation, so a past tense form is used.
Depuis in the past
When talking about an ongoing situation at a past point in time (rather than right now), the same logic applies, but shifted back a tense. English uses the pluperfect; French uses the imperfect.
J’étais là depuis plus d’un an. (“I had been there for more than a year.”)
Depuis qu’ils vivaient ensemble, il la voyait travailler tard le soir. (“Ever since they had been living together, he saw her working late into the evening.”)
Depuis que…
Depuis can also introduce a full clause (rather than just a noun or time expression) using depuis que:
Depuis qu’il a fini ses études, je le vois beaucoup plus. (“Since he finished his studies, I see a lot more of him.”)
Pendant (For/During)
Pendant indicates the length of time associated with an action, or how long something lasted. Unlike depuis, it doesn’t imply the action is still ongoing. It works across all time frames: past, present, and future.
J’y suis resté pendant trois semaines l’année dernière. (“I stayed there for three weeks last year.” Completed past action.)
Jean-Paul dit qu’il veut garder le silence pendant trois semaines. (“Jean-Paul says he wants to stay quiet for three weeks.” Present/future intention.)
Nous irons passer des vacances en Irlande pendant quinze jours. (“We’ll spend a fortnight on holiday in Ireland.” Future plan.)
When the duration refers to a completed past action, pendant is used with past tenses. When it refers to ongoing or future durations, it pairs with the present or future.
You can sometimes drop pendant altogether in French when the duration is expressed with a time phrase if the meaning remains clear:
J’ai attendu deux heures. (“I waited for two hours.” Pendant is implied.)
Il y a (Ago)
Il y a + time expression means “ago.” It places a completed event at a specific point in the past. The focus is on when the event happened relative to now, not on how long it lasted or whether it continues. The verb is always in a past tense.
Je suis arrivé il y a un an. (“I arrived a year ago.”)
Elle a commencé à habiter notre village il y a six mois. (“She began living in our village six months ago.”)
Nous y sommes allés il y a plus de dix ans. (“We went there more than ten years ago.”)
Il y a in this usage always comes after the verb phrase; it’s never placed at the beginning of the sentence the way “ago” sometimes is in English.
Comparing the Three Side by Side
The simplest way to see the difference is to look at the same verb with all three expressions:
| Expression | Example | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| depuis | Je travaille ici depuis trois ans. | “I’ve been working here for three years.” (and still am) |
| pendant | J’ai travaillé ici pendant trois ans. | “I worked here for three years.” (completed, no longer) |
| il y a | J’ai commencé à travailler ici il y a trois ans. | “I started working here three years ago.” (point in time) |
The tense difference between depuis and pendant in these examples is significant. Je travaille (present) with depuis says the work is still happening. J’ai travaillé (passé composé) with pendant says it’s over.
Two Variants Worth Knowing: Il y a… que and Voilà… que
French has two alternative constructions that behave exactly like depuis and express the same “ongoing since” meaning. They’re worth recognizing even if you don’t use them frequently:
Il y a un mois que je la connais. (“I have known her for a month.”)
Voilà plusieurs années qu‘elle travaille tard le soir. (“For several years now she has been working late into the evening.”)
Both use the present tense in French for ongoing situations, just like depuis. In the past, they shift to the imperfect:
Il y avait un mois que je la connaissais. (“I had known her for a month.”)
A Common Mistake to Avoid
The most frequent error English speakers make is using the passé composé with depuis for an ongoing action. Because English says “I have lived here for five years,” learners reach for j’ai vécu, but that’s incorrect if you’re still living there.
Incorrect: J’ai vécu ici depuis cinq ans.
Correct: Je vis ici depuis cinq ans. (“I have been living here for five years.”)
The rule is: if the situation is still true right now, use the present tense with depuis.
How These Interact with Other Tenses
These three expressions interact naturally with the full range of French tenses. Depuis in particular connects to the discussion of the French imparfait, because that’s the tense you’ll use when an ongoing past situation is disrupted by a new event:
Il fumait depuis dix ans quand il a décidé d’arrêter. (“He had been smoking for ten years when he decided to stop.”)
And for the passé composé itself (the tense most often paired with il y a and pendant) see our post on the French passé composé.
What to Practice Next
The tense behavior of depuis in particular is one of those things that sounds simple in a lesson but requires real practice before it feels natural. The instinct to say j’ai vécu instead of je vis doesn’t go away on its own; it takes repeated exposure in real conversations.
Talking about yourself in French, like where you’ve been, what you’ve been doing, or how long you’ve been learning; is one of the best ways to drill these constructions. Mondly builds exactly this kind of personal conversation practice into its lessons, which makes it useful for internalizing time expressions in context rather than in the abstract.
