What is the difference in these two tenses?

E.S. Q.A1Kwiziq community member

What is the difference in these two tenses?

If I say "I have been living in Paris for 4 years" is it correct to say either:

#1 J'habite à Paris depuis quatre ans or  #2 J'ai été habiter à Paris quatre ans.



Asked 5 years ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi E.S.,

It depends on the situation -

If you have been living in Paris for four years and it is still going on, you will use the present tense + depuis:

J'habite Paris depuis 4 ans.

If however, you don't live there anymore but you lived there for four years you will use the perfect tense + pendant and say :

J'ai habité Paris pendant 4 ans.

Take a look at the following Kwiziq lesson for more examples -

https://kwiziq.learnfrenchwithalexa.com/revision/grammar/expressing-for-duration-with-either-pendant-durant-depuis-or-pour

Hope this helps!

E.S. Q.A1Kwiziq community member

It depends. If you still live there, it is not correct to  #1.

purity k.A2Kwiziq community member

One is in le passé compossé and the other in l'imparfait

purity k.A2Kwiziq community member

One is in le passé compossé and the other in l'imparfait

What is the difference in these two tenses?

If I say "I have been living in Paris for 4 years" is it correct to say either:

#1 J'habite à Paris depuis quatre ans or  #2 J'ai été habiter à Paris quatre ans.



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