En vs pendant
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En vs pendant
Well, actually, there is a difference between en and pendant when expressing duration of an action.They are very similar in that way but not enirely.
"Pendant" expresses a global duration of an action which might or might not be continued or repeated.
"En" in the temporal context stands for a duration of an uninterrupted action or a time limit is somehow implied.
For example:
1) "Levez les bras et baissez-les. Faites-le pendant cinq minutes."
2) "Levez les bras et baissez-les. Faites-le en cinq minutes."
The first sentence implies that you raise and lower the arms repeatedly during five minutes.
The second sentence says to raise and lower the arms once within five minutes.
So "pendant" is very much like "during" in English. And "en" is "in" in English.
I hope that helps to clarify the situation.
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
Bonjour à tous !
Chris and Tom are correct regarding the example "J'irai à Paris en trois semaines.". This sentence would actually mean something like "It will take me three weeks to go to Paris.", as en refers to the duration it takes to accomplish an action.
Tom, your last examples are correct indeed :)
As Tom pointed out, the related lessons would be:
En vs dans (prepositions of time)
Expressing for + [duration] with either pendant, durant, depuis or pour (prepositions of time)
I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !
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