French Temporal Prepositions
Prépositions de temps
Lesson | Quiz
Many French students are confused by the French prepositions for time. The problem is that there are so many different French temporal prepositions with different uses: à, en, dans, depuis, pendant, durant, and pour (although pour is almost never used to express time).
The following is a quick summary of French temporal prepositions. Click on the links for more detailed explanations of each preposition, with examples and comparisons.
The preposition à expresses the time at which an event occurs:
| Nous mangeons à 8h00. | We eat at 8:00. |
| Il va parler à midi. | He'll speak at noon. |
En expresses the length of time an action takes or the month, season, or year in which something takes place:
| Nous avons mangé en une heure. | We ate in an hour. |
| Il va parler en hiver. | He'll speak in the winter. |
Dans indicates the amount of time before an action will begin:
| Nous mangerons dans 20 minutes. | We'll eat in 20 minutes. |
| Il va parler dans une heure. | He'll speak in an hour. |
Depuis refers to the duration of something that is still going on in the present, or was still going on when something else happened:
| Nous mangeons depuis une heure. | We've been eating for an hour. |
| Il parle depuis 5 minutes. | He's been speaking for 5 minutes. |
| Il travaillait depuis 10 jours quand je l'ai vu. | He'd been working for 10 days when I saw him. |
Pendant and durant refer to the entire duration of an action (you can't use pour here):
| Nous avons mangé pendant/durant une heure. | We ate for an hour. |
| Il peut parler durant/pendant 15 minutes. | He can speak for 15 minutes. |
Pour is used only to indicate the duration of an event in the future:
| Il va parler pour 15 minutes. | He's going to speak for 15 minutes. |
| Note that pour, pendant, and durant are all acceptable here. | |
| Quiz on temporal prepositions
Depuis vs Il y a
More prepositions Other confusing pairs Telling time in French Expressions with "temps" |
| The free, twice-weekly About French newsletter keeps you informed about changes
to this site, including new lessons, articles, and forum discussions. Subscribe today!
|
