Breakdown of Nous cherchons une solution depuis un mois.
un
a / an (masculine)
une
a / an (feminine)
nous
we / us (object pronoun)
chercher
to look for
le mois
the month
depuis
since/for
la solution
the solution
Questions & Answers about Nous cherchons une solution depuis un mois.
Why is cherchons in the present tense when the English translation uses "have been looking"?
In French, if an action started in the past and is still continuing in the present, you must use the present tense with depuis. Because we are still looking for a solution right now, nous cherchons is present. Trying to translate the English present perfect continuous literally into a French past tense is a common trap!
Since the English translation is "for a month", why can't we say pour un mois here?
English uses "for" for almost all durations, but French is more specific. Pour is generally only used for an intended or scheduled duration in the future (e.g., leaving on vacation pour un mois). For an action that started in the past and continues into the present, you must use depuis followed by the duration.
How would the sentence change if we had finally found a solution and the search was over?
If the search was completely finished, you would use the passé composé and the preposition pendant instead of depuis. You would say: Nous avons cherché une solution pendant un mois (We looked for a solution for a month).
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