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Ça fait un mois que j'essaie de m'adapter, mais le choc culturel est fort.

Ça fait un mois que j'essaie de m'adapter, mais le choc culturel est fort.
I have been trying to adapt for a month, but the culture shock is strong.
From Lesson 265:Ongoing duration (ça fait... que)·French

Questions & Answers about Ça fait un mois que j'essaie de m'adapter, mais le choc culturel est fort.

Why does the French sentence use the present tense j'essaie when the English translation uses the past continuous I have been trying?
This is the core of how Ça fait... que works! When an action started in the past and is still happening now, French uses the present tense. English uses the present perfect continuous, but French literally says it makes a month that I try.
Could I use Il y a... que instead of Ça fait... que here?
Yes! You could say Il y a un mois que j'essaie de m'adapter. Both phrases mean the exact same thing and are followed by the present tense to show an ongoing action. However, Ça fait... que is usually a bit more common in everyday spoken French.
Why is there a de right after j'essaie?
The verb essayer (to try) requires the preposition de before a following infinitive verb. The pattern to remember is essayer de faire quelque chose (to try to do something).
Why does it say m'adapter (to adapt myself) rather than just adapter?
In French, adapting to a new environment or situation is usually a reflexive action: s'adapter. Because the person doing the adapting is je (I), the reflexive pronoun must match the subject, changing to me. It then drops its vowel to become m' before adapter.

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