# EN: There has been



## Marysunshine

How would you say "There has been..." in french?
Thank you very much for your time,

Bye


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## Benjy

Marysunshine said:
			
		

> How would you say "There has been..." in french?
> Thank you very much for your time,
> 
> Bye



it really pains me to write this but i have to. it depends.

il y avait or il y a eu. it depends, please share the rest of the sentance


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## vachecow

what is the difference?


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## Benjy

vachecow121 said:
			
		

> what is the difference?



hmmm il y avait is something going on in the past.. but it desciribes a state in the past something with duration. il y a eu implies that the thing is over and done with.


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## Cath.S.

> How would you say "There has been..." in french?


Most times,
There has been X = _Il y a eu X _
Example :
There has been a fight = _il y a eu une bagarre _

_Also, v_ery often, as I have tried to show in my examples, the noun that comes after it should be turned into a verb whenever possible to get a better, "Frenchier" result :

There has been a lot of talk : on a beaucoup parlé
or
Il y a eu beaucoup de pourparlers/discussions

There has been a fight = on s'est battu
or
il y a eu une bagarre

there has been an exaggeration = on a exagéré
or
il y a eu de l'exagération

If you feel uncomfortable about changing the structure of a sentence, stick with good ole "il y a eu", you (probably) won't be wrong.

Benjy, I don't think "there has been" can be translated to "il y avait", "il y avait" = "there was".

Oh dear! As I was checking my facts, I came across this little beauty :

There has been for some time _now_ much debate as to... [blah blah blah].

And I am sorry to say that it "il y a eu" would not fit here, because the sentence implies there is still ongoing debate. So here you'd have to use the present tense in French:

_Depuis un certain temps il y a beaucoup de débats sur... [bla bla bla]._
or
_Depuis un certain temps on débat beaucoup sur... [bla bla bla]._


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## Eddie

Egueule, what are you doing up so late? For me, it's only 11:25 at night (23h25). Fais dodo alors!





Ed


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## vachecow

Benjy said:
			
		

> hmmm il y avait is something going on in the past.. but it desciribes a state in the past something with duration. il y a eu implies that the thing is over and done with.


Thank you...I get it now


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## Benjy

hmm for some reason i thought id answer my own question instead of the one she asked. i read "there was" where everyone else read "there has been"
so no, you cant use il y avait. its true


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## kens

But you can use _il y avait_, Benjy. Please see Egueule's post above. 

There is no direct translation of English's present perfect into French. "There has been" is either "Il y a eu" or "Il y avait", depending on the context. 

The present perfect exists to make a link from the past to the present -- we use it to say "This happened in the past but it's still the case today" or something like that. No French conjugation is equivalent to this.

So for example the sentence "There has been much debate over the years about use of the present perfect" would be translated with _imparfait_, not _passé composé._


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## fetchezlavache

kens said:
			
		

> So for example the sentence "There has been much debate over the years about use of the present perfect" would be translated with _imparfait_, not _passé composé._



sadly, no, kens. this one is translated 'il y a eu au fil des années....'

whereas this one 


> There has been for some time now much debate as to...


 is translated by 'depuis longtemps il y *a * un débat important, depuis longtemps maintenant le débat *fait * rage' etc.. 

if you read egueule's post carefully, you'll notice egueule doesn't mention imparfait. it's the present that is required here. 



> There has been for some time now much debate as to... [blah blah blah].
> 
> And I am sorry to say that it "il y a eu" would not fit here, because the sentence implies there is still ongoing debate. So here you'd have to use the present tense in French:
> 
> Depuis un certain temps il y a beaucoup de débats sur... [bla bla bla].
> or
> Depuis un certain temps on débat beaucoup sur... [bla bla bla].


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## Cath.S.

Thank you Fetchez, I did not think my post was ambiguous :


> Benjy, I don't think "there has been" can be translated to "il y avait", "il y avait" = "there was".


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## Tsarina

This is an interesting thread, even though as it continues I get tangled in the grammar --
To further muddy the waters (how would you say THAT in French?), I remember from the distant past that fairy tales begin in French, Il y avait une fois ---
Is this so?


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## Cath.S.

> that fairy tales begin in French, Il y avait une fois ---


Hi Tsarina, it is "il _était_ une fois"
"Il était une fois un bûcheron et une bûcheronne qui avaient sept enfants..." (Le Petit Poucet)


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## Tsarina

Hey Eguele,

Merci! C'est assez longtemps, j'ai oubliee ---
Votre photo, c'est charmant. Il etait une fois quand j'etais petite ---- la neige tombait et le vent soufflait --- jusqu'comme aujourd'hui.
Bon Dimanche.


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