Catalan does not use one equivalent of English for with every measurement. A distance or duration may appear with no preposition at all (caminar deu quilòmetres, esperar mitja hora), while durant frames an interval, fa counts backward from a reference point, and des de fa measures a situation continuing from the past. The construction you choose tells the listener whether the measure belongs to an activity, an endpoint, or the time separating two moments.
Unlabelled forms below belong to neutral contemporary standard Catalan. The Central Catalan baseline also works throughout the standard language here; regional differences concern frequency and style more than grammaticality.
A decision table
| Meaning | Usual Catalan pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| extent of an activity or state | bare measure phrase | caminar sis quilòmetres; esperar vint minuts |
| a bounded interval viewed as a frame | durant
| durant tres setmanes |
| two spatial or temporal endpoints | de… a… | de Reus a Tarragona; de nou a dotze |
| an event before now | fa
| va arribar fa dos dies |
| a situation continuing up to now | des de fa
| hi viu des de fa dos anys |
| the same continuing duration, made the topic | fa
| fa dos anys que hi viu |
Bare measure phrases: no preposition needed
After verbs whose meaning naturally admits a measure—durar, trigar, esperar, caminar, córrer, fer, pesar, mesurar—the measure phrase can be a direct complement without durant. English often inserts for, but Catalan does not need a word in that slot.
La reunió va durar dues hores i mitja, però només vam parlar deu minuts del pressupost.
The meeting lasted two and a half hours, but we only talked about the budget for ten minutes.
Hem caminat gairebé dotze quilòmetres des de l'estació fins al refugi.
We've walked almost twelve kilometers from the station to the refuge.
Espera'm cinc minuts a l'entrada; encara he de tornar les claus.
Wait for me for five minutes at the entrance; I still have to return the keys.
In La reparació va trigar tres dies, the three days measure the time needed to reach completion. Compare Van reparar la façana durant tres dies, where the interval frames the activity but does not itself guarantee that the job was completed. The preposition en can also measure completion time: Van reparar la façana en tres dies means that three days were enough to finish it.
La Júlia va estudiar quatre hores.
Júlia studied for four hours. (bare duration of the activity)
La Júlia va acabar l'informe en quatre hores.
Júlia finished the report in four hours. (time required to reach the result)
Durant frames an interval
Durant makes an interval explicit as the frame within which a situation holds. It is especially useful with named periods (durant l'estiu, durant la reunió) and when the duration is fronted, contrasted, or separated from the verb. With an ordinary numerical measure after a durative verb, it often alternates with a bare phrase: va ploure dues hores / durant dues hores.
Durant el mes d'agost, la biblioteca obrirà només al matí.
During August, the library will open only in the morning.
No va dir ni una paraula durant tot el trajecte.
She didn't say a single word during the whole journey.
The first example has a comma because the temporal frame is detached at the beginning. No comma normally separates a final complement from its verb: La biblioteca tancarà durant una setmana.
Negation changes what falls inside the interval. No va treballar durant dues hores can mean either that there was a two-hour interval with no work or, with contrastive intonation, that the work did not last two hours. Clear writing makes the intended scope explicit:
Durant dues hores no va treballar gens; es va quedar esperant que tornés la connexió.
For two hours she did no work at all; she waited for the connection to return.
No va treballar dues hores, sinó només quaranta minuts.
She didn't work for two hours, but only for forty minutes.
De… a… marks two endpoints
Use de… a… to delimit a route, range, schedule, or period. Articles contract normally: del poble al far, dels deu als dotze anys. The two prepositions form a pair, so do not copy English punctuation or omit the first endpoint marker.
Del càmping al far hi ha tres quilòmetres per un camí força planer.
It is three kilometers from the campsite to the lighthouse along a fairly level path.
L'oficina atendrà el públic de dos quarts de nou a dues, de dilluns a divendres.
The office will serve the public from eight thirty to two, Monday through Friday.
Distance can also be stated with entre when both endpoints are presented symmetrically: Entre el càmping i el far hi ha tres quilòmetres. By contrast, del càmping al far profiles a path from source to goal. See paths, sources, and goals.
Fa: counting backward from a reference point
Fa + duration placed with a past event means “duration ago”: va marxar fa una setmana. The verb fer appears in the fixed third-person singular fa, regardless of whether the measure is singular or plural. In past narration, the reference point can itself be past, so feia replaces fa.
Ens vam conèixer fa quinze anys en una colla castellera.
We met fifteen years ago in a human-tower group.
Quan em va trucar, feia tres mesos que no ens vèiem.
When she called me, we hadn't seen each other for three months.
English places ago after the measure; Catalan puts fa before it. Fa tres dies que va arribar is also possible, with the elapsed interval promoted to the front: it means that the arrival occurred three days ago, not that the person necessarily remains here.
Des de fa and fa… que: a situation still continuing
For a state or activity that began in the past and still holds now, standard Catalan normally uses the present tense with des de fa + duration or fa + duration + que. English uses a present perfect in “has lived,” which should not be copied mechanically.
La Samira treballa en aquesta cooperativa des de fa sis anys.
Samira has worked at this cooperative for six years.
Fa sis anys que la Samira treballa en aquesta cooperativa.
Samira has been working at this cooperative for six years.
The two versions describe the same temporal relation but organize the discourse differently. Des de fa sis anys stays inside the predicate; Fa sis anys que… foregrounds the extent. If only the starting point is named, use des de without fa: hi treballa des del 2020, not des de fa el 2020.
Des de fa més d'una hora, els veïns que esperen davant del centre mèdic no han rebut cap explicació.
For more than an hour, the neighbors waiting outside the medical center have received no explanation.
Here the duration is fronted and the subject contains the embedded relative que esperen davant del centre mèdic. Its position gives the whole proposition a temporal frame; it does not modify only els veïns.
A natural dialogue
—Quant falta fins a Besalú?
—How much farther is it to Besalú?
—Uns vint quilòmetres. Conduirem mitja hora, més o menys.
—About twenty kilometers. We'll drive for half an hour, more or less.
—I tu fa gaire que vius per aquesta zona?
—And have you lived around here long?
—Hi visc des de fa quatre anys, però treballo a Girona de dilluns a dijous.
—I've lived here for four years, but I work in Girona from Monday to Thursday.
Quant falta? asks for the remaining extent; fa gaire que…? asks how long the current situation has held. The answer keeps the present visc because the residence continues.
Short correction task
Correct the time or distance expression in each sentence.
- Visc aquí per cinc anys.
- Va arribar tres dies fa.
- Hem caminat durant deu quilòmetres.
- La botiga obre des de nou fins cinc.
Suggested answers: Visc aquí des de fa cinc anys; Va arribar fa tres dies; Hem caminat deu quilòmetres; La botiga obre de nou a cinc. In the third sentence, durant measures time, not spatial extent; the distance is a bare measure.
Common Mistakes
❌ He viscut aquí per sis anys.
Incorrect — do not map English ‘for’ to per; for a situation continuing now, use the present with des de fa.
✅ Visc aquí des de fa sis anys.
I've lived here for six years.
❌ Ens vam conèixer deu anys fa.
Incorrect — Catalan fa precedes the duration.
✅ Ens vam conèixer fa deu anys.
We met ten years ago.
❌ La cursa dura durant cinc quilòmetres.
Incorrect — kilometers are a bare distance measure here, not an interval introduced by durant.
✅ La cursa fa cinc quilòmetres.
The race is five kilometers long.
❌ Treballa aquí des de fa el 2022.
Incorrect — use des de with a named starting point, but des de fa with an elapsed duration.
✅ Treballa aquí des del 2022.
She has worked here since 2022.
❌ La consulta és de les deu fins a les dotze.
Incorrect in the simple paired range — coordinate de with a: de… a….
✅ La consulta és de les deu a les dotze.
Consultation hours are from ten to twelve.
Key Takeaways
A bare measure can directly express distance or duration. Durant frames a bounded interval, de… a… links two endpoints, fa locates a past event by elapsed time, and des de fa presents a situation that began earlier and still holds. Preserve Catalan word order and tense: fa tres dies, but visc aquí des de fa tres anys.
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