Hasn't vs. hadn't?

Sarah B.B1Kwiziq community member

Hasn't vs. hadn't?

How would you say "someone hadn't lived there since [insert year]"

Asked 11 months ago
CélineNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Bonjour Sarah,

To express "someone hadn't lived there since [insert year]", you would say:

Personne ne vivait là depuis 2004 = Nobody had lived here since 2004

-> here it is a case of "sequences of tenses" - use L'Imparfait

Take a look at the 2 sentences below: 

  - Le Présent (with negation) - Present Perfect:

Personne ne vit là depuis 2004 = Nobody has lived here since 2004

 - L'Imparfait (with negation) - Past Perfect:

Personne ne vivait là depuis 2004 Nobody had lived here since 2004

Take a look et the following link: 

Using the present tense (Le Présent) - and not the compound past (Le Passé Composé) - in sentences with "depuis" (since/for) in French (French Prepositions of Time)

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Bonjour Sarah,

The lesson explains the use of depuis with the passé composé -- Personne n'y a (has) habité  depuis ....

Personne n'y avait (had) habité depuis ....   would be plus-que-parfait not passé composé

Not sure if this answers your query or not?

Bonne journée

Jim

Hasn't vs. hadn't?

How would you say "someone hadn't lived there since [insert year]"

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