French grammar · Intermediate
Depuis vs. Il y a in French: Since, For, and Ago
Depuis measures a stretch of time that is still running, and it takes the present tense: j'attends depuis une heure, I have been waiting for an hour. Il y a measures backwards from now to a finished event, and it means ago: je suis arrivé il y a une heure. The same number can appear in both, describing the same situation from opposite ends.
J'habite ici depuis trois ans ; je suis arrivé il y a trois ans.
I've lived here for three years; I arrived three years ago.
What it is
English uses three separate structures here — I have lived here for three years, since 2022, I arrived three years ago — and French redistributes them across two words. Depuis handles anything still going on, whether you count the duration or name the starting point. Il y a handles a point in the past that is over.
Elle travaille ici depuis janvier ; elle a commencé il y a huit mois. — She has worked here since January; she started eight months ago.
How to spot it
Check whether the situation has stopped. If it is still true right now, you want depuis and a present-tense verb. If it finished, you want il y a and a past-tense verb.
- Je suis malade depuis lundi. — I've been ill since Monday. (still ill)
- J'ai été malade il y a deux semaines. — I was ill two weeks ago. (over)
- Nous nous connaissons depuis longtemps. — We've known each other for a long time.
- Ils se sont rencontrés il y a longtemps. — They met a long time ago.
The tense is the giveaway. A present-tense verb next to il y a almost always means the sentence should have used depuis.
Depuis vs. Il y a Quick Reference
Which structure for which meaning
| English | French | Tense of the verb |
|---|---|---|
| for three years (still true) | depuis trois ans | present |
| since Monday | depuis lundi | present |
| three years ago | il y a trois ans | passé composé |
| it's been three years that… | il y a trois ans que / ça fait trois ans que | present |
| for three years (finished) | pendant trois ans | passé composé |
| in three years' time | dans trois ans | future |
| in three years (took that long) | en trois ans | any past tense |
| since he left | depuis qu'il est parti | clause, any tense |
Common Depuis vs. Il y a Examples in French
The same time span seen from each end:
Depuis + Duration
- J'apprends le français depuis deux ans.
- I've been learning French for two years.
- Elle dort depuis trois heures.
- She's been asleep for three hours.
- On attend depuis vingt minutes.
- We've been waiting for twenty minutes.
- Il pleut depuis ce matin.
- It's been raining since this morning.
The verb is in the present because the action has not stopped. English switches to a perfect tense here, which is the source of most errors.
Depuis + Starting Point
- Je travaille ici depuis 2021.
- I've worked here since 2021.
- Elle est végétarienne depuis l'adolescence.
- She's been vegetarian since her teens.
- Nous n'avons pas de nouvelles depuis mardi.
- We've had no news since Tuesday.
- Depuis quand es-tu là ?
- How long have you been here?
Depuis quand asks for a date; depuis combien de temps asks for a length. French keeps them apart more strictly than English does.
Il y a = Ago
- Je l'ai vu il y a cinq minutes.
- I saw him five minutes ago.
- Ils sont partis il y a une semaine.
- They left a week ago.
- Il y a longtemps, cette rue était calme.
- A long time ago, this street was quiet.
- Elle a déménagé il y a peu.
- She moved not long ago.
Il y a in this sense sits with a completed action. It is the same il y a as there is, reused for time.
Il y a … que and Ça fait … que
- Il y a deux heures que je t'attends.
- I've been waiting for you for two hours.
- Ça fait trois jours qu'il n'a pas mangé.
- He hasn't eaten for three days.
- Voilà des années que je n'y suis pas allé.
- It's been years since I went there.
- Ça fait combien de temps que tu conduis ?
- How long have you been driving?
These push the duration to the front of the sentence. Ça fait … que is the most common of the three in speech.
How the Two Structures Divide the Work
The choice is made by the state of the action, and the tense follows automatically from the choice.
Depuis Means the Action Is Still Running
Depuis marks a span that reaches the present moment, so the verb sits in the present tense. French has no separate present perfect to reach for, and using the passé composé here would say the action has stopped.
Je vis en France depuis six mois.
I've been living in France for six months.
depuis + present = still true.
Depuis Takes Both a Length and a Date
One word covers English for and since. Depuis trois ans counts the span; depuis 2022 names where it started. Nothing in the French changes between the two.
Il est au chômage depuis mars, donc depuis cinq mois.
He's been unemployed since March, so for five months.
depuis = for and since.
Il y a Points at a Finished Moment
Il y a plus a duration counts backwards from now to a completed event. Because the event is over, the verb goes into the passé composé, and the phrase can sit at either end of the sentence.
Il y a trois jours, j'ai reçu sa lettre.
Three days ago, I got his letter.
il y a + past tense = ago.
Adding Que Flips Il y a Back to the Present
Il y a trois ans means three years ago, but il y a trois ans que means it has been three years that. The que turns the phrase into a frame for an ongoing situation, and the verb returns to the present.
Il y a une heure que j'essaie de te joindre.
I've been trying to reach you for an hour.
il y a … que = depuis, reordered.
The Negative Sends Depuis Into the Past
When the sentence is negative, French uses the passé composé with depuis, because what you are describing is an absence that began at a point in time.
Je ne l'ai pas vu depuis Noël.
I haven't seen him since Christmas.
Negative + depuis → passé composé.
Common Mistakes with Depuis vs. Il y a
Incorrect: J'ai habité ici depuis trois ans. — I've lived here for three years.
Correct: J'habite ici depuis trois ans. — I've lived here for three years.
Depuis with a positive verb needs the present tense, because the situation is still true. The passé composé would say the living has ended.
Incorrect: Je suis arrivé depuis trois ans. — I arrived three years ago.
Correct: Je suis arrivé il y a trois ans. — I arrived three years ago.
Arriving is instantaneous, so it cannot last three years. A completed event counted backwards from now takes il y a.
Incorrect: J'ai travaillé là depuis deux ans, mais maintenant je suis ailleurs. — I worked there for two years, but now I'm somewhere else.
Correct: J'ai travaillé là pendant deux ans, mais maintenant je suis ailleurs. — I worked there for two years, but now I'm somewhere else.
The sentence itself says the job is over, so the duration is closed and needs pendant. Depuis would contradict the second half.
Incorrect: Ça fait trois ans il y a que je le connais. — I've known him for three years.
Correct: Ça fait trois ans que je le connais. — I've known him for three years.
Ça fait … que and il y a … que are two complete alternatives to each other. Stacking them produces a sentence with two frames and no main clause.
The Same Sentence Across Tenses
Depuis does not change form, but the verb beside it does, and the tense decides whether the situation is still going on, was going on at some past point, or has been absent.
Present: still happening now
The present tense with depuis is the pattern English speakers have to build from scratch, because English insists on a perfect here.
| Pronoun | attendre + depuis | English |
|---|---|---|
| je / j' | j'attends depuis une heure | I've been waiting for an hour |
| tu | tu attends depuis une heure | you've been waiting for an hour |
| il / elle / on | il attend depuis une heure | he's been waiting for an hour |
| nous | nous attendons depuis une heure | we've been waiting for an hour |
| vous | vous attendez depuis une heure | you've been waiting for an hour |
| ils / elles | ils attendent depuis une heure | they've been waiting for an hour |
J'ai attendu depuis une heure would mean the waiting has ended, which is almost never what you want.
Imperfect: it was already going on back then
Shift the reference point into the past and depuis shifts with it. The imperfect says the action had already been running when something else happened.
| Pronoun | imparfait + depuis | English |
|---|---|---|
| je / j' | j'attendais depuis une heure | I had been waiting for an hour |
| tu | tu attendais depuis une heure | you had been waiting for an hour |
| il / elle / on | elle attendait depuis une heure | she had been waiting for an hour |
| nous | nous attendions depuis une heure | we had been waiting for an hour |
| vous | vous attendiez depuis une heure | you had been waiting for an hour |
| ils / elles | elles attendaient depuis une heure | they had been waiting for an hour |
J'attendais depuis une heure quand il est arrivé is the classic shape: imperfect for the running action, passé composé for the interruption.
Negative: the passé composé takes over
A negative sentence with depuis describes something that has not happened since a given point, and French marks that with the passé composé.
| Pronoun | négatif + depuis | English |
|---|---|---|
| je / j' | je n'ai pas fumé depuis un an | I haven't smoked for a year |
| tu | tu n'as pas écrit depuis mars | you haven't written since March |
| il / elle / on | il n'a pas appelé depuis mardi | he hasn't called since Tuesday |
| nous | nous ne l'avons pas vue depuis Noël | we haven't seen her since Christmas |
| vous | vous n'êtes pas venus depuis longtemps | you haven't come for a long time |
| ils / elles | ils n'ont pas répondu depuis deux jours | they haven't replied for two days |
Ça fait un an que je ne fume pas is the alternative, and it keeps the present tense because the frame changes.
Pendant, En, and Dans
Three more time words sit near depuis and il y a, and each one answers a different question about duration.
Pendant — a finished stretch
Pendant measures a duration that is complete, with a clear start and end. The verb is in a past tense, and pendant can often be dropped altogether.
- J'ai vécu à Berlin pendant trois ans.
- I lived in Berlin for three years.
- Elle a dormi pendant tout le trajet.
- She slept for the whole journey.
- Nous avons attendu deux heures.
- We waited for two hours.
Compare j'habite ici depuis trois ans, still here, with j'ai habité ici pendant trois ans, no longer here.
En — how long it took
En gives the time a task consumed from start to finish. It answers how long did it take, not when did it happen.
- Il a fini le rapport en deux heures.
- He finished the report in two hours.
- On y va en vingt minutes.
- You can get there in twenty minutes.
- Elle a appris le russe en un an.
- She learned Russian in a year.
En measures effort; pendant measures elapsed time. J'ai lu pendant deux heures says how long I read, en deux heures says how long it took me to finish.
Dans — how long until
Dans counts forward from now to a future point. English also says in here, which makes it easy to confuse with en.
- Je reviens dans cinq minutes.
- I'll be back in five minutes.
- Le train part dans une heure.
- The train leaves in an hour.
- Dans trois ans, il sera diplômé.
- In three years he'll have graduated.
Dans is the mirror image of il y a: one counts forward from now, the other backwards.
Depuis vs. Il y a FAQs
- What's the difference between depuis and il y a?
- Depuis introduces a situation that is still going on and takes the present tense: j'attends depuis une heure. Il y a counts backwards to a finished event and means ago: je suis arrivé il y a une heure. They can describe the same span from opposite ends.
- Why is it j'habite ici depuis trois ans and not j'ai habité?
- Because you still live there. French uses the present for anything that started in the past and continues now, where English switches to have lived. The passé composé would announce that you have moved out.
- Does depuis mean for or since?
- Both, and French does not distinguish them. Depuis trois ans is for three years, depuis 2021 is since 2021. Whether it looks like a duration or a date, the word is the same.
- When do you use ça fait … que?
- Whenever you want to put the duration first: ça fait deux heures que j'attends. It is the most spoken of the three equivalents, alongside il y a … que and voilà … que, and the verb stays in the present.
- What's the difference between pendant, en, and dans?
- Pendant covers a finished stretch (j'ai lu pendant deux heures), en says how long a task took (je l'ai lu en deux heures), and dans counts forward to a future moment (je le lirai dans deux heures). All three translate as for or in.