Breakdown of Nous apprenons la guitare depuis l'année dernière.
nous
we / us (object pronoun)
apprendre
to learn
dernier
last
l'année
the year (f)
depuis
since/for
la guitare
the guitar
l'année dernière
last year
Questions & Answers about Nous apprenons la guitare depuis l'année dernière.
Why is the French sentence in the present tense (apprenons) when the English translation says "have been learning"?
In French, if an action started in the past and is still happening right now, you use the present tense with depuis. Because we are still learning the guitar, we use the present tense nous apprenons, unlike English which uses the "have been doing" form.
Does depuis mean "since" or "for" here?
It means "since" here. Depuis can mean either "since" or "for" depending on what follows it. Because it is followed by a specific starting point in time (l'année dernière), it means "since". If it were followed by a length of time (like depuis un an meaning "for one year"), it would translate to "for".
Why do we use l'année instead of l'an for "year"?
Why does the adjective dernière come after année?
While many short, common adjectives go before the noun, adjectives related to time like dernier (last) and prochain (next) usually go after the noun they modify. So "last year" is always l'année dernière.
Learn Nous apprenons la guitare depuis l'année dernière and more in French
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free