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Leçon 17 : Le Temps (2)
Some expressions of time in English can be translated in several
ways in French :
A. The duration in time –
 There are three ways of stating the time duration of an
event that started in the past and cotinues in the present :
J’habite en Victoria depuis douze ans.
 I’ve lived in Victoria for twelve years.
NOTE : The verb in French is in the present, the verb in English is
in the present perfect (=passé composé).
Il y a douze ans que j’habite à Victoria.
Ça fait douze ans que j’habite à Victoria.
 It’s been twelve years that I live in Victoria.
NOTE : This is an approximative translation. There are no real
equivalents in English. The second verb does not change tenses.
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DEPUIS is translated as FOR when is followed by an expression
indicating a length of time :
J’étudie le français DEPUIS trois ans.
 I’ve studied French FOR three years.
It indicates an event that happened in the past and has been going
on until now. You started studying French three years ago, you
continue studying French now.
« Ça fait » and « il y a » are used the same way, for something that
has begun in the past and continues up to the present. Like
« depuis » + durée de temps, it’s also used to mark the length of
time an action has been happening.
The main difference is that « ça fait » and « il y a » are used at the
start of the sentence, thus putting emphasis on the duration of the
action rather than the action itself.
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 An event that started in the recent past or in the present and
whose duration is known in advance uses POUR (=FOR) :
J’étudie la sociologie pour quatre ans.
 I’m studying sociology for four years.
That means I’m studying sociology now and I know I will keep
studying until my four years have run out. Note how the French
présent is translated as English continuous present.
POUR can also be used for events happening purely in the future :
L’année prochaine, j’irais en France pour trois ans.
 Next year, I’ll go to France for three years.
Demain, je vais jouer tennis pour deux heures.
 Tomorrow, I’m going to play tennis for two hours.
The initial point lies in the future, but like in the first case, the
duration is known in advance. NOTE : an event to happen in the
fairly far future (next month, next year) needs the future tense (like
in the first example). An event to happen in the near future (next
week, tomorrow) uses ALLER + infinitif (=BE GOING TO + inf.).
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 Both PENDANT and POUR indicate the duration of something
with respect to a certain present. For PENDANT (and ÇA
FAIT, IL Y A), that present can be our present (as seen above)
or a « present » that lies in the past or the future (see
APPENDIX). For POUR, that present can be our present or a
« present » that lies in the future or near future, NEVER in the
past.
J’étudie le français POUR quatre ans.
J’étudie le français DEPUIS quatre ans.
« présent » = 2003
Remember : the literary « présent » may be any point in time. It’s
only present with respect to its own time frame! If the literary
present does not agree with our present, then all verb tenses need
to be changed (see APPENDIX). Also note that for DEPUIS, the
duration of time starts at some time in the past and ends NOW. For
POUR, it may have already started or be starting NOW and
continue in the future until the duration specified is achieved.
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 What if you want to talk about the duration of an event without
making reference to any present ? When the event is a repeated
action, or when it’s related to another event, not the present ?
Then, you can use PENDANT. PENDANT only cares about the
duration, and has no relationship to the « present ».
Le mardi, je joue tennis pendant deux heures.
 Tuesdays, I play tennis for two hours.
Je suis allé à Saks pendant mon voyage à New York.
 I went to Saks during my trip to New York.
J’ai écouté la classe pendant que je faisais mon devoir.
 I listened to class while I was doing my homework.
PENDANT can be translated in three ways : as FOR when it’s
followed by a length of time (deux ans, trois jours, etc); as
DURING when it’s followed by a certain event that gives the
limits to the duration; and PENDANT QUE (followed by another
action that establishes the duration) is translated as WHILE.
NOTE how the passé composé is usually translated as the simple
past in English and the imparfait as the continuous past.
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B. The duration of an event –
EN can be used to indicate a certain year, a season or a month. But
it can also be used to indicate the duration it takes to do
something :
Hélène peut apprendre un langage en trois mois.
 Helen can learn a language in three months.
The key difference between the « duration in time » and the
« duration of an event » is that in the former what matters is the
length of time the action takes, while in the later is the
achievement of the action.
Like PENDANT, EN is divorced from the present and can be used
in any time, future or present, without any major changes :
J’irais à Saks pendant mon voyage à New York.
 I will go to Saks during my trip to New York.
Karl a composé une symphonie en quatre heures.
 Karl composed a symphony in four hours.
The situation with DEPUIS et al. is more complex, see Appendix.
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C. A point in time –
 To indicate that a certain action happens from a certain point in
time, use DEPUIS + point in time :
J’étudie le français depuis 1995. I’ve studied French since 1995.
J’habitais à Rome depuis 1991. I had lived in Rome since 1991.
Elle lisait un livre depuis le matin quand je suis arrivé.
 She had been reading a book since morning when I arrived.
J’avais vécu avec ma tante depuis 1978 quand la guerre a
commencé.
 I had lived with my aunt since 1978 when the war began.
Some English Grammar (useful for translations) :
FOR (in English) can be used with any tense, but SINCE normally
requires a perfect tense. If an ongoing action is interrupted, you
need a continuous tense in English. The past perfect is used for an
action in the past that is well established (or concluded) by the time
another action in the past (usually in the simple past or present
perfect) takes place. Same with future perfect and simple future.
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 To indicate that a certain action happens up to a certain point in
time, use JUSQU’À + point in time :
Je resterai ici jusqu’à lundi  I will stay here until Monday.
Rob fait ses devoirs jusqu’à tard dans la nuit.
 Rob does his homework until late at night.
Using both DEPUIS and JUSQU’À, one can specify the time the
same way as using PENDANT :
Je me brosse les cheveux le matin pendant deux heures =
Je me brosse les cheveux le matin depuis 8 h. jusqu’à 10 h.
DEPUIS et JUSQU’À sont employés aussi pour les distances,
quand on parle d’une route (=itinerary) : le train va depuis Paris
jusqu’à Barcelone. DE et À sont employés pour un chemin
(=road) : je vais de Paris à Barcelone.
NOTE : POUR is used in place of PENDANT with the verbs aller,
venir et partir : Je pars en Europe pour six mois. With other verbs,
you can use both depending if you want to emphasize the duration
(using PENDANT) or the realization of the action (with POUR).
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Appendix
The following material is optional. It will be part of our course
later on, after we have tackled other verb tenses. I’m giving it now
to please the curious souls who want to have an idea how DEPUIS,
IL Y A and ÇA FAIT are used when the « présent » does not
correspond to our present but it corresponds to a point in the past
or the future.
 These forms can be adapted to use in the past by changing the
verbs in the present to verbs in the imparfait :
En 1995, j’habitais à Victoria depuis quatre ans.
 In 1995, I had lived in Victoria for four years.
NOTE : The verb in French is in the imparfait, the verb in English
is in the past perfect (=plus-que-parfait). The imparfait is a tense
that does not exist in English but is equivalent to several forms of
past (simple past, continuous past and « used to » past).
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En 1995, il y avait quatre ans que j’habitais à Victoria.
En 1995, ça faisait quatre ans que j’habitais à Victoria.
 In 1995, it had been four years that I lived in Victoria.
NOTE : As before, the first verb changes from imparfait to past
perfect (=plus-que-parfait). The second verb does not change, but
since there is no imparfait in English, it’s translated as simple past.
 Similarly, they can be changed to the future by altering the
tenses :
En 2011, j’habiterai à Victoria depuis vingt ans.
 In 2011, I will have lived in Victoria for twenty years.
NOTE : The verb in French is in the simple future, but in English it
is in the future perfect (=futur antérieur).
En 2011, il y aura vingt ans que j’habite à Victoria.
En 2011, ça fera vingt ans que j’habite à Victoria.
 In 2011, it’ll have been twenty years that I live in Victoria.
NOTE : The French futur simple is translated as English future
perfect (=futur antérieur). The subordinated clause stays in the
present tense in both cases.
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Leçon 18 : L’Adverbe
An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective or another
adverb :
I talk fast (the adverb « fast » modifies the verb « talk »).
She’s very smart (the adverb « very » modifies the adj. « smart »).
He left too quickly ! (the adverb « too » modifies the avderb
« quickly »).
En français, l’adverbe est employé exactement pour les mêmes
fonctions :
Je parle vite.
Elle est très habile.
Il est parti trop vite !
In French, the adverb can be identified because :
a. It follows the verb : J’écris clairement.
b. It precedes an adjective, modifying it but not the noun : Une très
jolie fille (« très » modifies « jolie »); but : Une petite jolie fille
(« petite » et « jolie » are both adjectifs modifying the noun).
c. It precedes another adverb, modifying it : Il travaille bien
lentement (« bien » = quite, modifies the other adverb
« lentement »).
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d. It modifies the entire phrase, in which case it can be placed at
the beginning or end of the phrase. Usually, these are adverbs of
place or time.
Types of Adverbs :
 Les adverbes de temps : Louis est parti hier. Aujourd’hui, la vie
coûte chère. Marie Frechette est morte récemment. Il n’est pas
nécessaire maintenant d’apprendre le Latin.
NOTE : Adverbes de temps indicate when the action happens.
They can be placed at the beginning or end of the phrase. The last
one could be written : Il n’est pas nécessaire d’apprendre le Latin
maintenant ou Maintenant, il n’est pas nécessaire d’apprendre le
Latin. These adverbs answer the question when ? (=quand ?).
 Les adverbes de lieu : Ils se trouvent partout. Défense de fumer
ici. Il habite à côté de chez Maurice. La famille est dehors. Il est
parti loin. Mettez les boîtes devant ! Marche près de moi.
Even though often they can be places at the begining or end of the
phrase, this is often not the case. Many adverbs of place are phrasal
adverbs (several words). They answer the question where? (=où ?).
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 Les adverbes de quantité et d’intensité : Il parle beaucoup.
J’écris trop vite. Elle est très jolie. Il est bien bavard. C’est assez
parler. Je suis moins fatiguée aujourd’hui. Je ne l’aime guère.
To this category belong most adverbs that modify other adverbs.
Some of them are also phrasal. They tend to modify only a word
(adjective, adverb or verb) rather than the whole phrase. These
adverbs answer the question how much ? (= combien ?).
 Les adverbes de manière : J’écris trop vite. J’ai bien compris.
Nous irons là ensemble. L’amour vous enflamme follement. Je
danse mal. Elle est restée debout toute la journée.
Most verbs belong to this category. They can often be replaced by
the expression « d’une façon… » (ex. : l’amour vous enflamme
d’une façon folle). Most of the verbs in –ment (English –ly) belong
here. They modify a word (most often a verb) but not a whole
phrase. They all answer the question how ? (= comment ?).
 Les adverbes exclamatifs et interrogatifs : we’ll see those later.
 Les adverbes de négation, d’affirmation et de doute.
 Les adverbes d’ordre : d’abord, premièrement, avant, après, etc.
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Les Adverbes en –ment :
Most adverbs ending in –ment are adverbs of manner, and they can
be replaced by the expression « d’une façon… » : elle travaille
rapidement = elle travaille d’une façon rapide; nous habillons
élégamment = nous habillons d’une façon élégante; etc.
In all the phrases « d’une façon… », the adjective that gives origin
to the adverb is in the feminine form. That’s why most adverbs are
formed from the feminine form of their corresponding adjective.
It’s only with the rare adjectives whose masculine ending is a
vowel that the masculine form is used : poliment (politely),
absolument (absolutely), modérément (moderately) et vraiment
(truly). An exception of note is gentil  gentiment.
In some adverbs coming from feminine adjectives, the final « e »
of the adjective is pronounced in the article. This is indicated by
the accent aigu : précisément, profondément, énormément.
Adjectives ending in –ent become adverbs ending in –emment.
Adjectives ending in –ant become adverbs ending in –amment.