Les Temps — French time units
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LES TEMPS
Connaître, comprendre, mémoriser
- 60secondes→une minute
- 60minutes→une heure
- 24heures→un jour
- 7jours→une semaine
- 30jours→un mois
- 2mois→un bimestre
- 3mois→un trimestre
- 4mois→un quadrimestre
- 6mois→un semestre
- 12mois→une année
- 2ans→un biennium
- 3ans→un triennat
- 5ans→un quinquennat
- 10ans→une décennie
- 100ans→un siècle
- 1000ans→un millénaire
- 10 000ans→un décamillénaire
- 100 000ans→un hectomillénaire
🎬 The 20-second version
5 quick questions on « Les Temps » — guess before the reveal. Practise with the free games → Open this short as a page — transcript included →
📘 Talking about duration
- depuis + present = have been doing: j’apprends le français depuis deux ans (I’ve been learning for 2 years).
- pendant = for (a completed duration): j’ai étudié pendant trois heures.
- il y a + time = ago: il y a deux jours (two days ago).
- dans + time = in (future): je reviens dans une heure.
- en + time = how long it takes: j’ai fini en dix minutes.
🇬🇧 The time toolkit: locating, measuring and sequencing
Time expressions do three jobs in French, and sorting them by job beats memorising them alphabetically. Locating: hier (yesterday), aujourd’hui, demain — extended by avant-hier and après-demain (French keeps single words for two days out in both directions) — plus la veille (the day before, for stories) and le lendemain (the day after). Measuring is where English speakers wobble, because three little words split “for/ago/since” duty: depuis (since/for — ongoing: « j’habite ici depuis deux ans », still true, and note the PRESENT tense where English uses perfect), pendant (for — completed duration: « j’ai vécu là pendant deux ans », over now), and il y a (ago: « il y a deux ans » — the existential phrase moonlighting as time-machine). Choose by whether the situation still holds, ended, or is being dated — that one question resolves every case.
Sequencing runs the storytelling connectors from our passé composé lesson: d’abord (first), puis, ensuite (then), enfin (finally), plus the aspect markers déjà (already), encore (still/again), ne…plus (no longer), toujours (always/still — context decides). And the frequency ladder every habit sentence climbs: toujours, souvent, parfois, rarement, jamais. These small words outrank whole tenses for making French sound organised — a story told with d’abord/ensuite/enfin and the right depuis reads as fluent even when the verbs stumble. Drill: describe your week using one word from each job — locate (hier), measure (depuis), sequence (ensuite) — and les temps stop being vocabulary and start being the skeleton your sentences hang on.
Time expressions — FAQ
What’s the difference between depuis, pendant and il y a?
Depuis = still going (present tense!: j’attends depuis une heure); pendant = finished duration (j’ai attendu pendant une heure); il y a = ago (il y a une heure). Ongoing, over, dated.
Why does depuis take the present tense?
Because the action continues: « j’habite ici depuis 2020 » — I STILL live here, so French stays present where English says “have lived”. One of the great tense-logic differences between the languages.
What are the French words for “the day before” and “the day after”?
La veille and le lendemain — the story-telling pair: « la veille du départ », « le lendemain matin ». Relative to today instead, use hier/demain and their avant-/après- extensions.
🔊 Useful phrases
🔊 Example sentences
✍️ Practice
Combien de minutes dans une heure ? (time)
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soixante
12 mois = une ___ (time)
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année
100 ans = un ___ (time)
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siècle
J’étudie le français ___ deux ans. (ongoing)
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depuis
Il est parti ___ une heure. (= ago) (ago)
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il y a
🎮 Practise this with games
🎯 More practice — translation — put it into French
Translate into French: « I’ve lived here for five years. » (translation)
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J’habite ici depuis cinq ans.
Translate into French: « I’ll be back in ten minutes. » (translation)
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Je reviens dans dix minutes.
Translate into French: « We see each other from time to time. » (translation)
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On se voit de temps en temps.
Translate into French: « He arrived on time. » (translation)
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Il est arrivé à l’heure.
Translate into French: « An hour has sixty minutes. » (translation)
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Une heure a soixante minutes.
Go further: this chart is one small piece — get the full picture in our guide How long does it really take to learn French?.
French time expressions — FAQ
What are the most useful French time expressions?
Key ones include depuis (since / for), dans (in, future), il y a (ago), pendant (during), de temps en temps (from time to time) and à l’heure (on time). The page above has them with audio.
What is the difference between « depuis », « pendant » and « il y a »?
Depuis = an action still going (« depuis cinq ans »); pendant = a completed duration (« pendant deux heures »); il y a = a point in the past (« il y a deux jours » = two days ago). Examples: « J’habite ici depuis cinq ans. » (I’ve lived here for five years.); « Je reviens dans dix minutes. » (I’ll be back in ten minutes.); « On se voit de temps en temps. » (We see each other from time to time.).
How do you say « in ten minutes » in French?
Use dans for the future: « je reviens dans dix minutes ». Don’t use en, which means how long something takes. Hear more examples above.
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