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Ça fait quelques mois que nous vivons à l'étranger.

Ça fait quelques mois que nous vivons à l'étranger.
We have been living abroad for a few months.
From Lesson 262:Ongoing duration (ça fait... que)·French

Questions & Answers about Ça fait quelques mois que nous vivons à l'étranger.

Why does the French sentence use the present tense (nous vivons) when the English translation says "we have been living"?
In French, when an action started in the past and is still happening right now, you use the present tense. Because we are still living abroad, nous vivons (we live) is the correct tense to use with ça fait... que. English uses "have been living," but French literally says "It makes a few months that we live abroad."
The lesson also mentions il y a... que. Could I use that here instead of ça fait... que?
Yes! You can swap them without changing the meaning: Il y a quelques mois que nous vivons à l'étranger. Both are used to talk about ongoing duration, though ça fait... que is slightly more informal and very common in everyday spoken French.
Could I just write this sentence using depuis (since/for)?
Absolutely. Using ça fait... que puts the duration at the very beginning of the sentence to emphasize it. If you use depuis, the sentence structure changes to put the time phrase at the end: Nous vivons à l'étranger depuis quelques mois.
Doesn't étranger mean "stranger" or "foreigner"? Why does it mean "abroad" here?
You're right that un étranger means a foreigner or a stranger. However, the fixed phrase à l'étranger specifically means "abroad" or "overseas." You can think of it as literally meaning "at the foreign (place)."

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