# FR: have been + V-ing



## mysteriouscreep

Comment dirait-on quelque chose comme "We have been expecting you" ou "I have been going out with him for a year" ? Est-ce que ...

_Nous t'avons attendu _et _Je sortais avec lui depuis un an _?


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## benouze75

"Nous t'avons attendu" est bien formulé.

pour "je sortais avec lui depuis un an", cela veut dire que ça n'était pas fini à ce moment là.

C'est ce que tu voulais dire?


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## DearPrudence

*Je sortais avec lui depuis un an*
But it means that it's over
*"Je sortais avec lui depuis an quand il a décidé de me larguer":
"I had been going out with him for a year when he decided to dump me".*

So I would rather say:
*"I have been going out with him for a year" *
*"Je sors avec lui depuis un an"*


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## Outsider

*"We have been expecting you."*
Je traduirais ça comme « Nous t'attendions ». There are probably more expressive translations that the natives can suggest, but I would definitely use the _imparfait_ in the translation.



			
				DearPrudence said:
			
		

> *"I have been going out with him for a year"*
> "Je sors avec lui depuis un an."


Tout à fait d'accord.


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## tilt

I agree with Ousider about _Nous t'attendions_ for the same reason as DearPrudence is right about _Je sors avec lui depuis un an.
N__ous t'avons attendu_ would mean that you were not expected any more when you arrived: _Nous t'avons attendu une heure avant de partir, _i.e.We have been expecting you for one hour before to leave.

And for the same reason too, you should write _c'est ce que je *voulais* savoir_, and not _c'est ce que j'*ai voulu* savoir._


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## geostan

Outsider said:


> *"We have been expecting you."*
> Je traduirais ça comme « Nous t'attendions ». There are probably more expressive translations that the natives can suggest, but I would definitely use the _imparfait_ in the translation.
> 
> Tout à fait d'accord.



There doesn't seem to be a general rule about this example, but I agree with the choice of tense. Note that if a time expression were added, the present tense would be required.

And what would one write for the following example?

What have you been doing? - I've been watering the lawn.
Qu'as-tu fait?  - J'ai arrosé la pelouse.

Would anyone use the imperfect here?


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## geostan

tilt said:


> _Nous t'avons attendu une heure avant de partir, _i.e.We have been expecting you for one hour before to leave.



You would have to translate the French sentence by:

We waited for you (for) an hour  before leaving.


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## LV4-26

geostan said:


> What have you been doing? - I've been watering the lawn.
> Qu'as-tu fait?  - J'ai arrosé la pelouse.
> 
> Would anyone use the imperfect here?


The tenses used would be the same as in English. (only, the continuous wouldn't be translated in the first case).

1. Possible context
I left him for a while to go shopping. Now, I'm back
_Qu'est-ce que tu as fait ?_(= pendant que j'étais parti)
What have you been doing?

2. Possible context
Similar situation. I'm back from shopping. When he sees me, he stops whatever he was doing.
_Qu'est-ce que tu faisais ? / Qu'est-ce que tu étais en train de faire ?_ (= quand je suis arrivé)
What were you doing ?


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## geostan

Your #2 context doesn't work from the English point of view because you could not say: "What have you been doing when I arrived?" But perhaps that is not what you're getting at.

The present perfect progressive in English without a time expression does not seem to have a clear cut translation into French. The English is almost idiomatic. What does seem clear to me is that the action, whatever it was, was already completed when I asked the question, hence the passé composé in French. But in this one case French may not be able to distinguish between the simple past, the present perfect and the present perfect progressive (again, without a time expression). The passé composé performs a triple function.

But on occasion, the French imperfect is an idiomatic translation of the present perfect progressive, e.g. I have been waiting for you, I've been expecting you.

It's quite an interesting puzzle.


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## LV4-26

geostan said:


> Your #2 context doesn't work from the English point of view because you could not say: "What have you been doing when I arrived?" But perhaps that is not what you're getting at.


You're right on both counts.
I was just trying to show that (for once) French and English would use (morphologically) similar tenses in this particular case . Therefore, to your question...


> What have you been doing? - I've been watering the lawn.
> Qu'as-tu fait? - J'ai arrosé la pelouse.
> 
> Would anyone use the imperfect here?


...my answser is "I would not".
Sorry for being unclear.


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## tubes

Hello,

This is my first post; I'm glad to be here!

I know there have already been posts on this subject before, but I can't seem to find one which quite answers my questions.

(1) How does one translate "What have you been up to?" into French?

(2) How does one answer such a question in French? For example, in English, one might say "I've been working at the supermarket."

I've seen answers to (2) which suggest one uses the present, but only in a translation of something like

"For the past week, I've been working at the supermarket.",

in which case it looks like the translation is along the lines of

"Depuis une semaine, je travaille au supermarché."

What happens, as is natural, when you want to drop the "For the past week" part, and just answer "I've been working at the supermarket."? I only ask because this is very common in English.

Many thanks,

Tubes.


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## geostan

This is a use I addressed in a recent thread, but I don't keep track of them so I can't indicate where it is. It's a tough one to answer, because it depends on whether or not the action is still going on. 

If I say: "What have you been doing?  - I've been watering the lawn." the actions are obviously over, otherwise you wouldn't be asking the question. So in this case, I would use the passé composé.

In your case of the supermarket, it's trickier because you are probably still working at the supermarket, even if you are not doing it at the moment the question is asked. I would probably say it as follows:

Que fais-tu ces jours-ci?  - Je travaille au supermarché. 

As I said earlier, a definitive answer is difficult for this particular use of the English present perfect progressive tense, but I think this should help.

Cheers!


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## lemonjelly

(1) Je traduirai par "Alors, qu'est-ce-que tu deviens"
(2) En ce moment je travaille dans un supermarché.

En ce moment means that the speaker thinks it is just a temporary situation.

I work at the supermarket = Je travaille au supermarché

For the past week, I've been working at the supermarket
= Depuis une semaine je travaille au supermarché.

 When you drop "for the past week" nothing change, the sentence is still "je travaille au supermarché" (you can add "en ce moment".)

If the speaker doesn't work anymore at the supermarket, the answer will be : J'ai travaillé au supermarché .

Voilà


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## konungursvia

A mon avis, on employerait normalement le présent de l'indicatif dans ce cas, souvent suivi de _depuis.... On t'attend depuis longtemps... Nous vous attendons depuis ce matin...._


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