The difference between DEPUIS and PENDANT in French
Coffee Break Languages
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPclojx4lzA

Transkript (automatisch erstellt)

0:00 - In this video, we're going to be looking at two very interesting words: "depuis" and "pendant".
0:05 Let's go! (upbeat music)
0:18 Hello everyone and welcome to Coffee Break French I'm Mark.
0:22 And I'm Pierre-Benoît. - And in this video, as Pierre-Benoît mentioned,
0:25 we are looking at two very useful and very important words based on Rachel's question.
0:29 Rachel got in touch and asked us what's the difference between "depuis" and "pendant".
0:35 So, to answer this question, let's begin by looking at two sentences,
0:39 one which uses "depuis" and one which uses "pendant". Pierre-Benoît, can you give us these sentences?
0:45 Of course. "Je joue au basket depuis 3 ans."
0:52 - Okay, "je joue au basket..." Literally, "I play at basketball",
0:57 "...depuis 3 ans." so, "I play at basketball since three years".
1:06 That's a strange translation, but that's literally what it means,
1:09 it means "I've been playing basketball for 3 years". Let's look at the alternative.
1:15 "J'ai joué au basket pendant 3 ans." - Okay. So it's an alternative,
1:22 but it means something different. "J'ai joué au basket pendant 3 ans."
1:29 So here, "we played basketball for a period of three years". So here, "we played basketball for a period of three years".
1:35 I think it might help if we look at... Let's think of this as a kind of drawing,
1:40 I'm going to come up with a diagram here. This is now, okay.
1:44 And there is Pierre-Benoît playing basketball. You're very good at basketball, obviously,
1:50 and the ball goes straight in the net every time. But, what we need to think about is the difference between
1:55 these two words, "depuis" and "pendant". So let's take "depuis" first of all.
2:02 "Depuis" basically starts somewhere in the past and it continues up to the present
2:11 and indeed, potentially beyond. So, "I have been playing basketball for three years
2:19 and today I'm still playing basketball" and that's the reason for the present.
2:23 - Yep. That's it. If it's an action that started in the past
2:25 and it's still going on at the present, okay, or in the present, then we need to use "depuis".
2:31 - Okay, so we've got the past here, and then we've got "now" here; the present,
2:35 so "depuis" continues from the past into the present, but that's different from "pendant"
2:42 because "pendant" would kind of happen here. So, it started in the past
2:50 and it stopped in the past as well. - Yeah, it's totally finished in the past,
2:54 and I think that's what people have to remember. - So, "j'ai joué au basket pendant 3 ans".
3:00 that means "at some point in the past for a period of three years, I played basketball".
3:05 "I played basketball for three years", and it's the "for" translation that's
3:10 kind of tricky sometimes because we start to think about different words,
3:14 but here we're sticking to "depuis" and "pendant". "Depuis" starts in the past,
3:20 it took three years and it's now continuing on and "pendant" started in the past,
3:24 it took three years and then ended at that point. Let's look at another example
3:30 and that might help this whole idea. "J'étudie l'espagnol depuis 5 ans".
3:38 - Okay, "j'étudie l'espagnol depuis 5 ans". - Okay, "j'étudie l'espagnol depuis 5 ans".
3:45 So "I", again let's do it literally first, "I study Spanish since five years".
3:51 "I've been studying Spanish for five years". So that's a "depuis" situation,
3:56 it starts in the past - for five years in this case - and it continues up to the present and, who knows,
4:01 perhaps we'll continue studying Spanish in the future. But there we've got "depuis",
4:06 it's "I have been studying Spanish for five years". Let's look at the alternative.
4:12 "J'ai étudié l'espagnol pendant 5 ans". "J'ai étudié l'espagnol pendant 5 ans".
4:18 - Okay, so, "j'ai étudié l'espagnol pendant 5 ans". - Okay, so, "j'ai étudié l'espagnol pendant 5 ans".
4:25 so "I studied Spanish for a period of five years in the past, but then no longer studied it after that".
4:33 So there we have the difference between "depuis" - something that started in the past,
4:36 continues up to the present - and "pendant", which started in the past
4:41 and finished in the past. Now Pierre-Benoît, let's think carefully
4:45 about these tenses here, because we've got two different tenses,
4:48 one that's used for "depuis" and one that's used for "pendant".
4:51 Can you explain what we mean? - Yes, because here when we're using "depuis",
4:55 we need to have the present tense because the action is obviously, as we've been saying,
5:00 it's continuing in the present. - Okay, so with "depuis" then,
5:04 we've got the present tense linked to "depuis", but for "pendant", we've got a different tense.
5:10 - Since we have an action that's totally finished, it finished in the past, we need to use the past tense
5:15 and here it's a perfect. Very good.
5:18 A perfect ending, a perfect solution. So there we go.
5:21 We hope that that's answered your question, Rachel. Thank you very much for sending it in.
5:25 Now if you've got a question like Rachel, then just get in touch with us,
5:28 head to coffeebreakquestions.com where you can leave your questions for us
5:32 and we'll hopefully be able to include your question in a future episode.
5:36 Also, if you've enjoyed this video, then give it a like and of course, subscribe
5:39 to the channel to get more learning videos to help you with your French.
5:43 - And if you do have any examples with "depuis" and "pendant",
5:47 just please post them in the comments. Great. Well, thank you very much and see you next time!
5:52 Bye! (upbeat music)