Today a little grammar. \u00a0Here are some sentences you might hear if you are talking to French people:<\/p>\n
Vous \u00eates en France depuis quand?<\/em> (How long have you been in France?) Depuis<\/em><\/strong> means “for” when used with the present tense and followed by a time expression. \u00a0It is used to show that an action began in the past, but is still happening in the present. \u00a0This construction is the equivalent to the present perfect in English; in other words, “has\/have been ___ing”.\u00a0\u00a0 This structure cannot be directly translated word for word, so be careful!<\/p>\n Now, you may have noticed above that I used both structures “habiter Pari<\/em>s” without a preposition and “habiter \u00e0 Paris<\/em>” with the preposition in the above examples and you may think I have made a mistake.\u00a0 Neither are mistakes and both are not only grammatically correct, but often used and heard by the French and Parisians in particular.\u00a0 Habiter<\/em> can be considered transitive or intransitive and therefore can be used with or without a preposition.\u00a0 Now, where the real controversy lies is in the much-used expression by Parisians “J’habite sur Paris<\/em>” which is not really considered grammatically correct by all, but has become accepted or not-so-accepted (depending on who you are talking to) common spoken language.\u00a0 Parisians use “sur<\/em>” to mean that they live in the “banlieue<\/em>” near or around Paris, but not in Paris city center itself. \u00a0In a way, it’s probably to orient someone who may not know of the small town or suburb the speaker lives in, but will of course know where Paris is located.\u00a0 Likewise, you can also say “J’habite dans Paris<\/em>” so the person you’re speaking to knows you mean that you live in Paris city center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today a little grammar. \u00a0Here are some sentences you might hear if you are talking to French people: Vous \u00eates en France depuis quand? (How long have you been in France?) Vous habitez Paris depuis combien de temps? (How long have you been living in Paris?) J’habite \u00e0 Paris depuis quinze ans. (I’ve been living…<\/p>\n
\nVous habitez Paris depuis combien de temps?<\/em> (How long have you been living in Paris?)
\nJ’habite \u00e0 Paris depuis quinze ans.<\/em> (I’ve been living in Paris for fifteen years.)
\nDepuis combien de temps \u00e9tudiez-vous le fran\u00e7ais? <\/em> (How long have you been studying French?)
\nIl conduit depuis quatre heures.<\/em> (He has been driving for four hours.)
\nNous nous reposons depuis une heure? <\/em> (We have been resting for an hour?)
\nVous attendez ici depuis une demi-heure?<\/em> (You have been waiting for a half hour?)<\/p>\n