In English, we use "in" to talk about both when something will happen ("The race starts in ten minutes") and how long it takes to complete a task ("I finished the race in ten minutes"). French keeps these ideas separate with two different prepositions: dans and en.
Dans (Time until an action begins)
Use dans to count down to a future event. It expresses the time that will pass before an action starts.
| The stage starts in ten minutes. | L'étape commence dans dix minutes. |
| The steep climb starts in three minutes. | La montée raide commence dans trois minutes. |
En (Duration to complete an action)
Use en to express how much time it takes to complete an action from start to finish.
| They finished this stage in four hours. | Ils ont fini cette étape en quatre heures. |
| They did the sprint in ten seconds. | Ils ont fait le sprint en dix secondes. |
Comparing "dans" and "en"
Look at how these two prepositions behave with the verb rattraper (to catch up). Use dans for when the action will happen, and en for how long the process took.
| I am going to catch him in ten minutes! | Je vais le rattraper dans dix minutes ! |
| The cyclist caught up with the peloton in one hour. | Le cycliste a rattrapé le peloton en une heure. |
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