French has a small, much-loved set of duration expressions that English speakers tend to swap freely. They cannot be swapped. Depuis, il y a, and pendant each pin a duration to a different point on the timeline, and each demands a specific tense in the verb that follows. Get this trio right and your French past-tense storytelling will sound dramatically more natural; get it wrong and listeners will spend a half-second back-resolving what you meant.
This page maps the three expressions to three timeline shapes, drills the tense-pairing rules, and walks through the edge cases where English speakers slip most often.
The three timeline shapes
Before any tense rules, picture the three shapes.
- Depuis — a situation that started in the past and is still going on at the moment of speaking. The duration stretches from a point in the past up to now. Verb tense: présent in French (matching the still-going part), even where English uses have been.
- Il y a — a closed event that happened a measured time ago. The duration counts backward from now to a point in the past. Verb tense: passé composé (the event is finished).
- Pendant — a closed duration that the action filled, with no implication that it continues. Verb tense: passé composé for completed events, or any tense matching the period.
Once you can see the three shapes, the verb tense almost picks itself.
Depuis: the ongoing duration
Depuis translates as both since and for, depending on what comes after it. With a point in time (depuis 2010, depuis lundi), translate as since. With a duration (depuis cinq ans, depuis longtemps), translate as for. Either way, the action started then and is still ongoing, so French uses the présent.
J'habite à Lyon depuis 2018.
I've been living in Lyon since 2018.
Elle apprend le japonais depuis trois ans.
She has been learning Japanese for three years.
Il pleut sans arrêt depuis ce matin.
It's been raining nonstop since this morning.
The tense mismatch is the central trap for English speakers. English uses the present perfect (have been living) because the situation reaches into the present. French uses the simple present because the situation is the present — it just started earlier. Writing j'ai habité à Lyon depuis 2018 would mean you no longer live there, which is the opposite of the intended meaning.
On se connaît depuis l'école primaire.
We've known each other since primary school.
Je travaille pour cette entreprise depuis deux mois et demi.
I've been working for this company for two and a half months.
The negative exception
The only systematic exception to depuis + présent is the negative passé composé. If the situation is the absence of an action — I haven't seen Marie in two years — French uses the passé composé with depuis, because there is no ongoing action to anchor in the present.
Je n'ai pas vu Marie depuis deux ans.
I haven't seen Marie for two years.
On n'a pas eu de nouvelles depuis Noël.
We haven't heard anything since Christmas.
This is logical once you see it: a negative action cannot be ongoing in the present in the same way a positive one can. The passé composé marks the absence as a closed (or continuing) gap.
Depuis quand vs. depuis combien de temps
Two question forms ask about ongoing situations.
Depuis quand habites-tu ici ?
Since when have you been living here? (asking for a starting point)
Depuis combien de temps habites-tu ici ?
For how long have you been living here? (asking for a duration)
Both are answered with the présent: J'habite ici depuis 2020 / Depuis cinq ans.
Imparfait + depuis (past ongoing)
When the reference point is in the past rather than now, shift everything down one tense: imparfait + depuis describes a situation that was ongoing at a past moment.
Quand je l'ai rencontrée, elle habitait à Paris depuis dix ans.
When I met her, she had been living in Paris for ten years.
Il dormait depuis une heure quand le téléphone a sonné.
He had been sleeping for an hour when the phone rang.
Notice that English uses the past perfect (had been) here, exactly mirroring how présent + depuis corresponds to English present perfect. The pattern is consistent — French simply uses simpler tenses than English in these constructions.
Il y a: a measured time ago
Il y a plus a duration means ago — counting backward from now to a single closed event in the past. The verb is in the passé composé because we are pointing to a finished moment.
Je suis arrivé en France il y a six mois.
I arrived in France six months ago.
On s'est rencontrés il y a longtemps, à un concert.
We met a long time ago, at a concert.
Elle a quitté son travail il y a deux semaines.
She quit her job two weeks ago.
The duration is whatever you want — il y a une heure, il y a trois jours, il y a vingt ans. The structure does not change.
Il y a vs. il y a... que (a pseudo-equivalent of depuis)
There is a related but distinct construction: il y a + duration + que, which actually behaves like depuis and pairs with the présent for ongoing situations. Do not confuse it with the ago meaning.
Il y a trois ans que j'habite ici.
I've been living here for three years. (= depuis trois ans)
Ça fait trois ans que j'habite ici.
I've been living here for three years. (informal alternative — same meaning)
The difference is purely syntactic: with que and a present-tense clause, you are saying the same thing as depuis. Without que, il y a means ago and pairs with the passé composé.
Pendant: a closed duration filled by an action
Pendant plus a duration means for in the sense of during a span — a span that the action filled and is now over. The action is closed, so the verb is typically in the passé composé.
J'ai vécu à Berlin pendant cinq ans, puis je suis rentré en France.
I lived in Berlin for five years, then I came back to France.
Hier, on a marché pendant trois heures sous la pluie.
Yesterday, we walked for three hours in the rain.
Elle a travaillé pendant tout l'été comme serveuse.
She worked the whole summer as a waitress.
The contrast with depuis is now sharp:
J'habite à Lyon depuis cinq ans.
I've been living in Lyon for five years. (still there — présent)
J'ai habité à Lyon pendant cinq ans.
I lived in Lyon for five years. (no longer there — passé composé)
The same numeral (cinq ans) describes either an ongoing or a closed period depending solely on which preposition you choose. This is why French speakers find the depuis/pendant distinction so natural — the prepositions carry the aspectual information that English encodes in its choice of have lived vs lived.
Pendant with future and habitual contexts
Pendant is not exclusive to the past. It marks any closed span the speaker is treating as a unit.
Pendant les vacances, je vais lire les six tomes que tu m'as offerts.
During the holidays, I'm going to read the six volumes you gave me.
Pendant qu'on parle, le poulet brûle dans le four.
While we're talking, the chicken is burning in the oven.
The second example uses pendant que + verb (a conjunction) to mean while, marking simultaneity. Pendant alone takes a noun; pendant que takes a clause.
Pendant can be omitted
Native speakers often drop pendant when the duration directly follows the verb, especially in conversational French.
J'ai marché trois heures.
I walked for three hours. (pendant implied)
Il a parlé une heure et demie sans s'arrêter.
He spoke for an hour and a half without stopping.
Both versions are correct. Adding pendant is more emphatic; dropping it is more conversational.
A fourth player: pour (planned future duration)
While we are here, you should also know pour + duration. Pour marks an intended duration — usually planned or anticipated, often future, and most often paired with verbs of motion or assignment.
Je pars à Tokyo pour deux semaines.
I'm leaving for Tokyo for two weeks. (planned trip duration)
Elle est venue chez nous pour le week-end.
She came to our place for the weekend. (intended length of visit)
A common mistake is using pour for any for + duration. Pour is only for the planned/anticipated reading. I worked there for ten years is pendant, not pour — there was no plan attached to the duration; it just happened to last ten years.
Decision flowchart
When a duration appears, work through these questions in order.
- Is the situation still ongoing now? → depuis
- présent. (Or imparfait
- depuis if the reference point is past.)
- présent. (Or imparfait
- Is it a single moment that happened a measured time back? → il y a
- passé composé.
- Is it a closed span an action filled, now over? → pendant
- passé composé.
- Is it a planned/intended span, often future? → pour
- future or present.
| Question | Choice | Tense |
|---|---|---|
| Still going on? | depuis | présent (or imparfait) |
| Negative state still going? | depuis | passé composé négatif |
| Happened a time ago? | il y a | passé composé |
| Closed completed span? | pendant | passé composé |
| Planned span (often future)? | pour | future / present |
Common mistakes
These five errors are by far the most frequent. The first is so common it deserves a page of its own — see depuis-tense-confusion.
❌ J'ai habité ici depuis cinq ans.
Incorrect — this means 'I lived here for five years (and stopped),' which contradicts depuis.
✅ J'habite ici depuis cinq ans.
I've been living here for five years. (still here)
❌ Il y a trois ans, j'habite à Paris.
Incorrect — il y a + duration without 'que' means 'ago' and requires the passé composé.
✅ Il y a trois ans, j'ai déménagé à Paris.
Three years ago, I moved to Paris.
✅ Il y a trois ans que j'habite à Paris.
I've been living in Paris for three years. (alternative to depuis)
❌ J'ai travaillé là pour dix ans.
Incorrect — pour is for planned/anticipated duration, not for a span that simply happened.
✅ J'ai travaillé là pendant dix ans.
I worked there for ten years.
❌ Je suis arrivé pendant deux semaines.
Incorrect — arriving is a single moment, not a span. Use il y a for time ago, or pour if it describes the planned stay length.
✅ Je suis arrivé il y a deux semaines.
I arrived two weeks ago.
✅ Je suis arrivé pour deux semaines.
I arrived for a two-week stay.
❌ Je n'habite pas ici depuis deux ans.
Awkward — for negation describing absence/non-occurrence, French uses passé composé négatif.
✅ Je n'ai pas habité ici depuis deux ans.
I haven't lived here for two years. (= it's been two years since I lived here)
Key takeaways
- Depuis = ongoing → présent (or imparfait in past contexts; or passé composé négatif for absence).
- Il y a
- duration alone = ago → passé composé. Il y a... que = ongoing → présent.
- Pendant = a closed completed span → usually passé composé.
- Pour = planned/intended duration, often future.
- The single biggest trap: never put depuis with a positive passé composé. The verb tense carries the aspect — choose présent if the action continues, passé composé if it does not.
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