# FR: I have been learning



## Banana24

Hi, 

I'm a little confused as to how to say "I have been learning french for four years"

I've got: 

'je suis apprendree le francais pendant 4 ans'

But i'm not sure how correct that is..


Merci d'avance


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## BEEKEEPER

Bonsoir,
Cela fait quatre ans que j'apprends le Français.


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## Cath.S.

BEEKEEPER said:


> Bonsoir,
> Cela fait quatre ans que j'apprends le *f*rançais.


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## BEEKEEPER

egueule said:


>


oops! Bien vu


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## Thomas1

Est-ce que c'est possible de dire :

_J'apprends le français quatre ans_?

Merci d'avance,
Thomas


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## Punky Zoé

Thomas1 said:


> Est-ce que c'est possible de dire :
> _J'apprends le français quatre ans_?
> Thomas


Bonjour Thomas

Non, ce n'est pas correct, on peut dire "j'apprends le français *depuis *quatre ans".


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## big_jock

What tense would this be....I'm having trouble translating:

I have been learning French...

Because _

J'ai appris_ is I have learnt 
_J'apprenais_ is I was learning 

Je pense que la problème est-que les deux veulent dire que j'ai arrêté, n'est-ce pas?

Merci!
C


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## arundhati

There is no exact equivalent in French, so if you could give us the whole sentence, it would help.


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## big_jock

_Recently I have been learning French_ is the sentence that I have been trying to translate.

Thanks for your help.

C


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## uptown

Just use the present:

_Récemment, j'apprends le français._


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## geostan

uptown said:


> Just use the present:
> 
> _Récemment, j'apprends le français._



This sounds strange to me. I would say something like:

Récemment, j'ai commencé à apprendre le français.

Cheers!


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## arundhati

uptown said:


> Just use the present:
> 
> _Récemment, j'apprends le français._


 
To be close to the original sentence, present must be used indeed.
But "récemment" clearly refers to the past and can't be used with present tense.
So, even if as said Geostan you can use the "passé composé" and change the verb, you could also keep the verb "apprendre" and say :
"J'apprends le français depuis peu de temps".


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## Psycher

i agree with "depuis peu"

_depuis peu, j'apprends le français_ for example.


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## L'Inconnu

Are you still learning or have you stopped? If you have stopped, use the past tense in French. If you are still learning, use the present tense in French. In some contexts our _present_ perfect tense and the French _passé_ composé mean practically the same thing. 

  “Do you know anything about biology?” “Well, I’ve read a few books about it.”
  “Est-ce que tu connais la biologie?” "Alors, j’ai lu quelques livres sur le sujet." 

In this case, a completed action, reading books on biology, is linked to a present condition, being knowledgeable about biology. Where we differ with the French is that we drop the _present_ perfect tense when we refer to an earlier time point, but we keep it for activities which continue in the present; the French do exactly the opposite.

  “Yesterday, I read a book on biology.” “I have been reading a book on biology.”
   “Hier, j’ai lu un livre de biologie.”        “Je lis un livre de biologie.”

  Note that our simple past tense corresponds to the French _passé_ composé, while our _present_ perfect continuous usually corresponds to their simple present tense. Also note that ‘Je lis’ can translate as ‘I read’, ‘I am reading’, ‘I have read’, or ‘I have been reading’. Without context, there is no way to distinguish which one of our four present aspects will correspond to the simple present tense in French. How do you resolve this dilemma? In this case, when you are dealing with the present perfect tense, ask yourself whether or not you are still doing the activity. When the action is completed the _passé_ composé is the right choice. When the action continues use the present tense in French. 

  In your example you are still learning French. Therefore, 

  “I have been learning French”
  “J’apprends le français”


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## big_jock

Merci L'inconnu, that was very helpful...I think that I have been taught that j'ai + ptp = the perfect tense...and I've been sure that this is wrong for a long time. In fact it seems that French doesn't have a perfect tense at all...at least looking at the verb tables on here it doesn't...

Est-ce que je peux dire _j'apprends le français depuis une semaine, _par exemple? Est-ce que cette expression aura un sens du passé?


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## Fred_C

big_jock said:


> Est-ce que je peux dire _j'apprends le français depuis une semaine, _par exemple?


 

Tout à fait. C'est le seul moyen de dire en français : "I have been learning French for a week".


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## geostan

L'Inconnu said:


> “Yesterday, I read a book on biology.” “I have been reading a book on biology.”
> “Hier, j’ai lu un livre de biologie.”        “Je lis un livre de biologie.”


 
You are right about the need for context, and for that reason, _I have been reading a book on biology _might be said in the passé composé as well.

If you are reading the book as you make the statement, then the present tense will fit. If there has been an interruption, and there is no indication of the time it began, then the passé composé would be used.



L'Inconnu said:


> In your example you are still learning French. Therefore,
> 
> “I have been learning French”
> “J’apprends le français”



His example was not exactly what you said. His example included the word _recently_. That makes the present tense impossible unless you rephrase _recently_ as some of the posters have done.


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## St16ella

big_jock said:


> _Recently I have been learning French_ is the sentence that I have been trying to translate.
> 
> Thanks for your help.
> 
> C



Hi !! 
_I have been learning French (for few years) _in French the translate will be:
_Je suis en train d'apprendre le Francais (depuis quelques années)_

You're Welcome bye !


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## Omelette

Hello, St16 and welcome to the forum.    But I'm afraid you don't quite understand the English. We use a different tense to express this:

'j'apprends le français depuis ...'


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## St16ella

Hello ! Thank you !
Oh... So, I have make a mistake ?
So wich the different tense to express _"j'aprends le francais depuis...."
_
Thanks in advance !


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## arundhati

C'est vrai qu'on peut souvent traduire l'utilisation des "continuous tenses" grâce à "entrain de", mais dans ce cas le présent est bien suffisant.


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## Omelette

It's the present perfect continuous.   'I have been (verb) + ing'
Sometimes we use a different tense from French to express the same idea.
'J’habite à Londres depuis dix ans'.  C’est le présent.
In English
 'I have been living in London for ten years'     =  present perfect continuous.


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## Maître Capello

Il ne faut en effet pas confondre le _present continuous_ et le _present perfect continuous_.

_I *am learning* French (right now)_. = J'*apprends* le français (en ce moment).  / Je *suis en train d'apprendre* le français. 
_I *have been learning* French for a few years._ = J'*apprends* le français depuis quelques années.  / Je suis en train d'apprendre le français depuis quelques années.


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