# EN: present perfect continuous / present continuous



## Michael-78

Hello there,

I would like to know what is the difference between the Present Perfect Continuous (have/has been +v-ing) and the Present Continous (be + v-ing) ?

For example, 
I am doing my homework
I have been doing my homework

In French, these both sentences mean "Je fais mes devoirs", don't they ?

So I am quite confused...

Thanks in advance.

Please correct my mistakes. Thanks


----------



## RuK

I am doing my homework - right here, right now, as I'm talking to you.

"What have you been doing for the past half-hour, while I've been waiting in the rain?" "I've been doing my homework". I may be still doing it (not neccessarily!), but I'm also telling you that I've been doing it continuously for some time. 

Maybe you could think of it as "je le fais depuis x temps" .


----------



## geostan

Michael-78 said:


> I am doing my homework
> I have been doing my homework
> 
> In French, these both sentences mean "Je fais mes devoirs", don't they ?



Not necessarily.

I am doing my homework.  [This is happening as I speak.]
Je fais mes devoirs
I have been doing my homework since 5 o'clock. [and I still am...]
Je fais mes devoirs depuis 5 heures.

Someone walks into the room of a teenager, where a lot of papers are on his desk. The person asks:

What have you been doing?    I have been doing my homework.
Qu'as-tu fait?  J'ai fait mes devoirs.

Since the activity is not continuing into the present, only the passé composé could be used in French. But English allows the present perfect progressive, which does two things:

It indicates that the activity has concluded, and
it expresses it as if were still on-going.

French has no way of accomplishing both with one tense.

Hope this helps.


----------



## french4beth

Hi Michael,

There is a slight distinction between the two (but both mean that the homework is not yet done):

I am doing my homework. _Right now, this is what I am doing._
_I have been doing my homework..._ this could be considered to be an incomplete sentence (unless it's a reply to a question like "What have you been doing for the past two hours?") - it indicates that a certain amount of time has passed since you started doing your homework & you're still doing it...

For example: 
I have been doing my homework for 1 hour, and I'm still not finished.
I have been doing my homework every day, so I should get good grades!
I have been doing my homework once a week, so I'm free every other night.


----------



## Michael-78

Okay. So for example I can't say : _I am doing my homework for 1 hour ?_ but I should say _I have been doing my homework for 1 hour
 ?_

Thanks


----------



## RuK

True. You got it.


----------



## se16teddy

Michael-78 said:


> Okay. So for example I can't say : _I am doing my homework for 1 hour ?_ but I should say _I have been doing my homework for 1 hour_


Correct.


----------



## Michael-78

thank you


----------



## englishman

geostan said:


> But English allows the present perfect progressive, which does two things:
> 
> It indicates that the activity has concluded, and
> it expresses it as if were still on-going.



This isn't quite right. If you say "I have been doing X", it does not guarantee that X is still being done (because otherwise you couldn't say "I have been doing my homework, and have just finished"); rather it allows the possibility of its still being continued.


----------



## Michael-78

but can I say "What were you doing ?" instead of "What have you been doing?"

Avec "what have you been doing" la personne ne sait pas si l'action est finie ou pas ? Peut-être que l'action n'est pas finie? Alors que avec "what were you doing" la personne qui pose la question sait que l'action est finie? 
Am I right ?

Je sais que je suis pénible mais j'aimerais comprendre 

Merci encore


----------



## englishman

Michael-78 said:


> but can I say "What were you doing ?" instead of "What have you been doing?"



Oui:

"I have been waiting here for an hour. What(ever) were you doing ?"
"I was doing my homework"



> Avec "what have you been doing" la personne ne sait pas si l'action est finie ou pas ? Peut-être que l'action n'est pas finie? Alors que avec "what were you doing" la personne qui pose la question sait que l'action est finie?


En les deux cas, la personne qui pose la question ne le sait pas. Comment pourrait-il le savoir ? C'est la personne qui fait l'action qui le sait. Que j'écris "I was doing my homework" ou que j'écris "I have been doing my homework", on ne sait pas si l'action est finie, mais la dernière tournure suggère plus fort que l'action est inachevé (à mon avis, tout au moins)


----------



## Michael-78

D'accord. Mais alors comment choisir entre ces deux temps ?


----------



## geostan

englishman said:


> This isn't quite right. If you say "I have been doing X", it does not guarantee that X is still being done (because otherwise you couldn't say "I have been doing my homework, and have just finished"); rather it allows the possibility of its still being continued.



That's why I said "as if it were." 

The only time that the present perfect progressive clearly means that the action is still going on is with a time expression. Other than that, the chances are that the action was recently completed. In this case, the effects on the present are known, but we are focussing on the duration of the action.

[Looking out the window] It has been snowing. [There is snow on the ground, but the snow is not now falling.]
She has been writing letters all morning. [This may mean that she is still writing them, or we see written letters on the desk and conclude that this is an activity just completed.]

But in answer to a question:  What have you been doing?  One might say: I've been mowing the lawn. [Clearly, the person is not currently mowing the lawn. Otherwise, the question is pointless.]

For a French speaker, the tense equivalents would be:

It's been snowing. Il a neigé.
She's been writing letters all morning. Elle a écrit des lettres toute la matinée.
Qu'avez-vous fait?  - J'ai tondu la pelouse.

To be honest, I'm not quite sure how the French would express the second sentence if the implication is that she is still writing them. Somehow, Elle écrit des lettres depuis toute la matinée, makes no sense to me.

In the cases where a time expression with since or for is involved, the present tense is used to show that the action is continuing into the present.

He has been writing novels for 10 years.  Il écrit des romans depuis 10 ans.


----------



## Michael-78

Et il en écrit toujours des romans ?
Otherwise you would say "He wrote novels for 10 years" ?

_"To be honest, I'm not quite sure how the French would express the second sentence if the implication is that she is still writing them. Somehow, Elle écrit des lettres depuis toute la matinée, makes no sense to me."_

I think we have no tense to express that. We would say:
"Elle écrit des lettres depuis ce matin" but it implies that she is still writing them... or "Elle a écrit des lettres toute la matinée et elle est encore en train d'en écrire"...


----------



## geostan

Michael-78 said:


> Et il en écrit toujours des romans ?
> Otherwise you would say "He wrote novels for 10 years" ?
> 
> _"To be honest, I'm not quite sure how the French would express the second sentence if the implication is that she is still writing them. Somehow, Elle écrit des lettres depuis toute la matinée, makes no sense to me."_
> 
> I think we have no tense to express that. We would say:
> "Elle écrit des lettres depuis ce matin" but it implies that she is still writing them... or "Elle a écrit des lettres toute la matinée et elle est encore en train d'en écrire"...



Voilà!


----------



## Michael-78

Thank you !


----------

