Time Expressions: depuis, il y a, pendant, dans
समय के वाक्यांश: depuis, il y a, pendant, dans
English pairs 'for/since' ongoing duration with a present-perfect verb ('I have lived here for five years'). French depuis instead pairs with a présent-tense verb for the same meaning — and this is exactly what Hindi already does with से + present continuous (मैं यहाँ पाँच साल से रह रहा हूँ), so this famous English-speaker trap isn't a trap for a Hindi speaker at all.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
depuis + présent ≈ Hindi's से + present continuous — no trap here for you
J'habite ici depuis cinq ans.
मैं यहाँ पाँच साल से रह रहा हूँ।
English reaches for present perfect ('have been living') because the action is ongoing. French instead treats it as simply still happening right now, hence présent, not passé composé — a famous trap for English speakers, who instinctively want 'have been' + participle. Hindi already handles this exact meaning with से (marking the duration) plus a present-continuous verb, रह रहा हूँ — no perfect-tense auxiliary at all, just like French's présent. Where an English speaker has to fight their own instinct here, a Hindi speaker's instinct already points straight at French's depuis + présent.
depuis also marks 'since' a starting point in time
Je travaille ici depuis 2020.
मैं यहाँ 2020 से काम कर रहा हूँ।
The same présent-tense rule applies whether depuis marks a plain duration or a specific starting point — French doesn't distinguish 'for' from 'since' the way English does; depuis covers both. Hindi's से is equally unified — 2020 से and पाँच साल से both use the identical postposition with the identical present-continuous verb, matching French's single-word coverage of both senses.
il y a = 'ago', with a completed past action — Hindi's पहले works the same way
Je suis arrivé il y a une heure.
मैं एक घंटे पहले पहुँचा।
il y a placed after a time expression and paired with passé composé means 'ago' — a completed, finished action. Hindi's पहले ('before/ago') placed after a time expression, paired with the simple past पहुँचा, does the identical job — एक घंटे पहले maps neatly onto il y a une heure, word order and all, since both place the 'ago' word after the duration.
pendant = 'for/during' a completed, bounded duration — Hindi's तक covers this, distinct from से
J'ai vécu à Paris pendant deux ans.
मैं पेरिस में दो साल तक रहा।
pendant marks a duration that is closed and finished, unlike depuis, which marks a duration still ongoing. Hindi keeps this same distinction visible through two different postpositions: से for an ongoing duration (matching depuis + présent) and तक for a bounded, completed duration (दो साल तक रहा, matching pendant + passé composé) — so a Hindi speaker already has two different grammatical signals for exactly the distinction French is making here, while English 'for' collapses both into the same word.
dans = 'in' (a future point in time from now)
Je pars dans une heure.
मैं एक घंटे में निकलूँगा।
dans placed before a time expression points forward in time from the moment of speaking. Hindi's में ('in') does the same job in the same position — एक घंटे में — so this use of dans should feel intuitive from Hindi too, as long as you don't confuse it with में's other everyday meaning as the ordinary 'in/inside' preposition for places.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
- Hindi
- सेse
- English
- since / for (ongoing action)
- Hindi
- पहलेpahle
- English
- ago
- Hindi
- तकtak
- English
- for/during (completed duration)
- Hindi
- मेंmeñ
- English
- in (future time)
- Hindi
- में (कितने समय में)meñ (kitne samay meñ)
- English
- in (time it takes to complete something)
- Hindi
- तकtak
- English
- until
- Hindi
- से शुरू होकरse śurū hokar
- English
- starting from
- Hindi
- थोड़ी देर में / थोड़ी देर पहलेthoṛī der meñ/thoṛī der pahle
- English
- in a little while / a little while ago