Breakdown of Il travaille de cette manière depuis longtemps.
il
he
travailler
to work
longtemps
for a long time
depuis
since/for
la manière
the manner, the way
Questions & Answers about Il travaille de cette manière depuis longtemps.
Why is travaille in the present tense when the English translation says "has worked"?
In French, when an action started in the past and is still continuing right now, you use the present tense with depuis (for/since). English uses the present perfect ("has worked"), which often tricks learners into trying to use the passé composé.
How would I change this sentence to say "He has worked hard for a long time" using the grammar from this lesson?
Could I use comme ça instead of de cette manière?
Why is there no article before longtemps? Shouldn't it be depuis un longtemps?
No, because longtemps is an adverb, not a noun! Even though English says "for a long time", French treats longtemps as a single adverb of time, so it never takes an article like un or le.
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