The French present tenseWhen and how often in the present tense

Use the present tense to describe what happens regularly and what is happening now. Get to grips with regular and irregular verbs and check your understanding with activities and a quiz.

Part ofFrenchGrammar

Talking about when and how often in the present tense

When talking about routine actions, use time phrases such as:

d’habitudeusually
normalementnormally
souventoften
tous les jours every day
une fois par semaine/mois/anonce a week/month/year
d’habitude
usually
normalement
normally
souvent
often
tous les jours
every day
une fois par semaine/mois/an
once a week/month/year

To emphasise that the action is currently taking place, use one of these phrases:

en ce momentat the moment
maintenantnow
être en train de + infinitiveto be in the process of doing something
en ce moment
at the moment
maintenant
now
être en train de + infinitive
to be in the process of doing something

Usingdepuis

The present tense is used with depuis (since/for) to talk about an action that began in the past and continues in the present.

  • J’habite ici depuis trois ans. – I’ve lived here for three years (and I still live here).
  • Elle étudie le français depuis 2010. – She’s been studying French since 2010 (and she is still studying French).
  • Ils sont ici depuis neuf heures. – They’ve been here since nine o’clock (and they’re still here).

When using depuis in a question it comes before the question word, and the verb needs to be in the present tense:

  • Depuis quand habites-tu ici ? – For how long (since when) have you lived here?
  • Depuis combien de temps étudies-tu le français ? – For how long have you been studying French?

Rearrange the parts of the sentences so that they make sense.

Question

cinq mois./J’habite/depuis/en France

Question

depuis/deux heures./ses devoirs/Il fait

Question

au supermarché/Nous travaillons/2012./depuis

Question

à conduire ?/apprends-tu/Depuis quand