Use the prepositions of time pour meaning for, pendant meaning for, during, and depuis meaning for, since to say when something happens or for how long it happens. For my students, the most difficult part of using French prepositions of time is translating the English preposition “for,” because we have these three prepositions to say this in French. In this post, we’ll review the differences among and how to use pour, pendant, and depuis. Let's take a look!
How to use the preposition ‘pour’ in French?
Use pour meaning for, in order to to express deadlines and future events in French. When my students want to translate “for” in the context of time, I have noticed that they often want to use pour. It is true that pour is mainly used to say "for," but in the sense of “in order to do something,” and I believe this is the cause of confusion.
We actually don’t use pour to express time that often, but when we do, this is how:
Pour meaning for is great to use for deadlines or to indicate a specific moment in time.
Il me faut ce rapport pour le 3 mars !Translation: I need this report for March third!Tu peux réserver le restaurant pour 19h ?Translation: Can you book the restaurant for 7 pm?Pour meaning for is also useful to express the duration of a future event with verbs like aller meaning to go, partir meaning to leave, or voyager meaning to travel. Put these verbs in the French future tense, and add the length of time!
J’irai en stage au Canada pour six mois.Translation: I will be working as an intern in Canada for six months.Je vais partir en voyage d’affaires au Brésil pour 3 semaines.Translation: I’m going to go on a business trip to Brazil for three weeks.Finally, you can use pour to say how long it will take you to finish something. We use the expression en avoir pour meaning it will take + length of time. For example, if you are in the shower and your younger sister is knocking on the door, getting angry because she needs to get ready, you could say:
J’en ai pour deux minutes !Translation: I'll be done in two minutes!Another example:
Le maçon en a pour trois semaines.Translation: It will take the builder three weeks.
How to use the preposition ‘pendant’ in French?
You can use pendant meaning for, during as a preposition of time in the past, future, and present tenses. In the past and future tenses, pendant can express how long an action took or will take. In the present tense, pendant expresses a habitual action. The expression pendant que meaning while can be used in all three tenses!
How to use ‘pendant’ to express how long an action takes in French?
Use the preposition of time pendant with the past or future tenses to say how long an action took or will take. But the action must not be connected to the present.
Here are two examples:
In the above examples, you can see that pendant is followed by a number, and is therefore translated as "for."
On the other hand, if pendant is followed by a noun, it's translated as "during":
A mistake my students often make is to use pour with the past tense.
This is incorrect because, as seen above, you would have to use the future tense with pour:
How to use the ‘pendant’ to express a habit in French?
Pendant expresses a habit when you use it in the French present tense.
How to use ‘pendant que’ in French?
Use pendant que to say "while." This time expression can be used to describe the past, the present, or the future:
A familiar expression we use a lot in my family is pendant que tu y es. It means "while you're there," or "while you're at it."
Beware, it can sound a bit bossy!
We’ve seen how to use pour and pendant. Last but not least, let's look at depuis.
How to use the preposition ‘depuis’ in French?
Use the French preposition of time depuis to say "for" or "since." Depuis can be used in the present and past tense in French. When depuis means "for," it is most often used witht he present tense to talk about an action that started in the past and is still ongoing. When depuis means "since," it can be used with either tense.
How to use ‘depuis’ to say “for” in French?
Use depuis to say "for" when you are talking about an action that started in the past and that is still happening now. For this reason, we use it mainly with the present tense in French.
For example, if you have been learning to play the guitar for four years and you are still learning today, you would say:
Have you noticed the difference in tenses used in French compared to English? In this context, you use the present perfect continuous (I have been learning) in English, but you always use the present tense in French (equivalent to I learn).
How to use ‘depuis’ to say “since” in French?
When you use depuis followed by a date, you can say “since”:
One of my favorite brands of French biscuits has been around depuis 1846. It’s on all their packaging. See if you can spot it during your next trip to a French supermarket!
Hungry for more? Here is a list of other useful French prepositions of time to memorize, including jusqu’à meaning until, à partir de meaning from, and il y a meaning ago.
Let’s recap the key facts
When using prepositions of time in French, remember that pour, pendant, and depuis are all used differently to express "for."
| Preposition | Purpose | Verb tense |
|---|---|---|
pour meaning for + date or deadline | To express the time a future action will take to be accomplished | Verb is in the future tense |
pendant / durant meaning for, during | To give the length of time of an action that is not connected to the present | Verb is in the: |
depuis meaning for + length of time | To indicate the length of time of an action that started in the past and is ongoing | Verb is in the present tense |
depuis meaning since + date or verb | To express “since” when referring to a moment in the past | Verb is in the present or past tense |
How about some practice with our exercises on the French prepositions of time pour, pendant, and depuis?
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