Perfect continuous tenses in French ('I have been....'), confusion!

[Neilkenlang]

I've been learning French for a while and I have some questions regarding the perfect continuous tenses and whether they exist in French or not. In English 'the perfect progressive tense' is the tense with 'have been', for example 'I have been practicing my French today', or 'I have been very busy', etc. According to some sources, the perfect continuous tense does not exist in French, whereas other sources say you can use the word 'été' for 'been'. So which is correct? I want to know whether it's possible in French to use 'J'ai été...' for 'I have been...'.

Here are some sentences using the perfect continuous tense - can you tell me whether I have them correct in French?

1) 'I have been practicing my French today' - 'J'ai été praticqué mon français aujourd'hui', or do I just use the perfect or imperfect tense, e.g. 'Je praticqais mon français aujourd'hui'/j'ai praticqué mon français aujourd'hui'?

2) 'I have been here (in Scotland') for 3 years' - Is it correct to say 'Je suis ici en Ecosse pour/depuis 3 années', or is it possible to say 'J'ai été ici en Ecosse pour/depuis 3 années' aussi?

3) 'I have been doing it for 3 years' - 'Je le fais depuis 3 années', or can I say 'J'ai été le fais pour/depuis 3 années'?

4) 'I have been very busy today' - 'J'ai été très occupé aujourd'hui' - is this correct, or better to use the present, perfect or imperfect tenses here?

5) For ''What have you been doing today?' - how would I say this in French, can I use été?

6) What about for the passive voice, for example 'the house has been sold'? In this case, can I use 'été', e.g. 'la maison a été vendue' (for 'the house has been sold', etc)?

Thanks for your help!

[aaleks]

In English 'the perfect progressive tense' is the tense with 'have been', for example 'I have been practicing my French today', or 'I have been very busy', etc.

Just one little correction from a non-native speaker
The perfect progressive tense is "have been + -ing". The "-ing" form is the progressive part here.
'I have been practicing my French today' - the perfect progressive.
'I have been very busy' - just the present perfect tense, not progressive.

[Cavesa]

Hi Neilkenlang, welcome to the forum.


The thing is: the grammar of another language is not just the grammar of our own language with a different terminology and endings. It is a different system. It is very unfortunate to try to equal everything like "this thing in English"="that thing in French". In some ways, it will appear so and in others it won't. The translation exercises are very valuable but shouldn't be the only thing you do and you should always translate a sentence, not word by word.

That's why I wholeheartedly recommend using French based resources as soon as possible, at least in combination with bilingual ones. They tend to mislead people about this much less. Grammaire Progressive by CLE is being recommended over and over in this community.

If you are talking about a present situation that started in the past, it is still the present. Any past tense doesn't make any sense in the examples 2,3,4. The present tense with the correct preposition is necessary. Je suis ici depuis trois ans. That sounds the closest to your intentioned meaning and the best. Also, you could say Je suis ici depuis 2015. The preposition works in both cases and means for how long you've been here. But if you use Je suis ici pour trois ans. That means you are here for three years total. You may have arrived yesterday or last year, but the stay is planned to take 3 years.

I recommend doing a bit of googling and read stuff like https://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/prep1.html

In your example 1, we are talking about a different situation probably. Either you are still practicing your French and it is the present. Or you were practicing it earlier today and than it is the past. We are talking about one event and we are saying exactly when it happened, today. We are not talking about a habit, so no imparfait. For the passé composé, you need to respect the way it is constructed in French, not translate word for word the English sentence. That means one auxiliary verb, in this case avoir. And one past participle pratiqué.

J'ai pratiqué mon français aujourd'hui. You were practicing earlier today and now you are not. Or you are still practicing and then it would still be the present tense.

http://laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/tap2.html

Imparfait would be used, if this was just a background for a different event. Je pratiquais mon français quand le téléphone a sonné. Or if it was a habit in the past etc. I recommend studying the relevant chapters in a coursebook or grammarbook.

Example 6 is completely different. Basically, this is the only example you've got right. You just add the passive to any tense, it doesn't change their use.

I hope this is of any help. It's been some time since I've last explained any French grammar. I really recommend getting the appropriate study resources, that will help you greatly in your journey.

[Arnaud]

Feel free to correct me, because my english grammar is a disaster...

1) 'I have been practicing my French today' - j'ai pratiqué mon français aujourd'hui' (not natural)
2) 'I have been here (in Scotland') for 3 years' - 'Je suis ici (en Ecosse) depuis 3 ans' or "ça fait 3 ans que je suis ici, en Ecosse" (more casual)
3) 'I have been doing it for 3 years' - Je le fais depuis 3 ans (ça fait 3 ans que je le fais)
4) 'I have been very busy today' - J'ai été très occupé aujourd'hui (looks ok, perhaps "je suis débordé aujourd'hui" if the action is still in progress)
5) For ''What have you been doing today?' - Qu'as-tu fait aujourd'hui (qu'est-ce que t'as fait aujourd'hui) ? (casual: t'as fait quoi aujourd'hui ?)
6) 'la maison a été vendue' (for 'the house has been sold', etc)? Ok.

[Neilkenlang]

In English 'the perfect progressive tense' is the tense with 'have been', for example 'I have been practicing my French today', or 'I have been very busy', etc.

Just one little correction from a non-native speaker
The perfect progressive tense is "have been + -ing". The "-ing" form is the progressive part here.
'I have been practicing my French today' - the perfect progressive.
'I have been very busy' - just the present perfect tense, not progressive.

Ah, you're right - thanks for reminding me of the difference between the two forms of 'have been'. I forgot that 'been' is the past participle of 'to be!

[Neilkenlang]

Hi Neilkenlang, welcome to the forum.


The thing is: the grammar of another language is not just the grammar of our own language with a different terminology and endings. It is a different system. It is very unfortunate to try to equal everything like "this thing in English"="that thing in French". In some ways, it will appear so and in others it won't. The translation exercises are very valuable but shouldn't be the only thing you do and you should always translate a sentence, not word by word.

That's why I wholeheartedly recommend using French based resources as soon as possible, at least in combination with bilingual ones. They tend to mislead people about this much less. Grammaire Progressive by CLE is being recommended over and over in this community.

If you are talking about a present situation that started in the past, it is still the present. Any past tense doesn't make any sense in the examples 2,3,4. The present tense with the correct preposition is necessary. Je suis ici depuis trois ans. That sounds the closest to your intentioned meaning and the best. Also, you could say Je suis ici depuis 2015. The preposition works in both cases and means for how long you've been here. But if you use Je suis ici pour trois ans. That means you are here for three years total. You may have arrived yesterday or last year, but the stay is planned to take 3 years.

I recommend doing a bit of googling and read stuff like https://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/prep1.html

In your example 1, we are talking about a different situation probably. Either you are still practicing your French and it is the present. Or you were practicing it earlier today and than it is the past. We are talking about one event and we are saying exactly when it happened, today. We are not talking about a habit, so no imparfait. For the passé composé, you need to respect the way it is constructed in French, not translate word for word the English sentence. That means one auxiliary verb, in this case avoir. And one past participle pratiqué.

J'ai pratiqué mon français aujourd'hui. You were practicing earlier today and now you are not. Or you are still practicing and then it would still be the present tense.

http://laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/tap2.html

Imparfait would be used, if this was just a background for a different event. Je pratiquais mon français quand le téléphone a sonné. Or if it was a habit in the past etc. I recommend studying the relevant chapters in a coursebook or grammarbook.

Example 6 is completely different. Basically, this is the only example you've got right. You just add the passive to any tense, it doesn't change their use.

I hope this is of any help. It's been some time since I've last explained any French grammar. I really recommend getting the appropriate study resources, that will help you greatly in your journey.

Thanks for your help and for the links. In English we can use the imperfect tense to describe things we were doing today, for example 'I was speaking French today', etc. As I understand it, the imperfect tense is not only used for past habitual actions (like 'I used to...'), but can also describe events that took place over a period of time (hence why it's called a 'continuous' tense), whereas the simple past is used to describe events that took place at a specific point in time. So if I said 'I was speaking French today', it would mean I was speaking French over a continuous period of time today, not only at a specific time. I'm pretty sure you can use the imperfect tense in French like this too, I don't see why not.

[Cavesa]

Thanks for your help and for the links. In English we can use the imperfect tense to describe things we were doing today, for example 'I was speaking French today', etc. As I understand it, the imperfect tense is not only used for past habitual actions (like 'I used to...'), but can also describe events that took place over a period of time (hence why it's called a 'continuous' tense), whereas the simple past is used to describe events that took place at a specific point in time. So if I said 'I was speaking French today', it would mean I was speaking French over a continuous period of time today, not only at a specific time. I'm pretty sure you can use the imperfect tense in French like this too, I don't see why not.

I think you are missing the point a bit. The fact something is possible in English doesn't mean it must work a similar way in French. And you are also straying a bit further away from the original examples. "I was speaking French today" is grammatically different than your original "I have been practicing my French today". And as Arnaud showed, using the past tense for the original example is not natural. It is not grammatically wrong (is it, Arnaud?), it is just not natural. Speaking different languages means more than translating a sentence to the other. It also means thinking a bit differently while constructing it. The whole "continuous" issue is really not that important in the romance languages, while it is a huge problem for learners of English.

Whether you, as a beginner, believe you can use the tense in that way because you don't "see why not", that doesn't really matter. Or rather: it doesn't matter to the language, it matters to you and your future progress. Either you are asking beginner questions to get answers from people with some relevant experience, or you don't think you need the advice and there is no point in asking at all. But with this attitude, you are highly unlikely to ever progress, if you'll doubt even grammar books.

"I was speaking French today" is still passé composé. Imparfait has different uses. It might just be appropriate to specify the time a bit more, or to give more context to the sentence, to make it more practical.

You know, if it wasn't on a platform, where gender is not obvious, I would call this mansplaining. Or perhaps it is just the fact I am not a native? That doesn't necessarily mean incompetence, it is sometimes even an advantage, when it comes to explaining grammar to a fellow learner. I have passed a C2 exam in French and a C1 in English btw. And I have even spent time looking up links to grammar explanations written by experts for you. You haven't bothered to look up anything and are instead trying to explain basic English grammar to me and argue about the French one you know nothing about, that's cute.

Your attitude aside, I'd recommend a very clear course of action: buy a high quality grammar book and/or course book. Study. Forget about the whole idea to find a French equivalent for everything natural in English. Don't expect the language to fit your "I don't see why not".

[tastyonions]

You won't see exact equivalents for the many "progressive" tenses in English. In general imperfect is used to express concepts of "[subject] used to + [verb]" or to set the scene in a narrative about the past (e.g. il faisait beau). Not for the concept of "has / had been [verb]-ing."

[smallwhite]

So if I said 'I was speaking French today', it would mean I was speaking French over a continuous period of time today, not only at a specific time. I'm pretty sure you can use the imperfect tense in French like this too, I don't see why not.

I agree. Textbooks often have the phone ring:
I was speaking French today quand le téléphone a sonné.

[garyb]

"I was speaking French today" is still passé composé. Imparfait has different uses.

It could maybe be either, depending on the context, but imparfait is far more likely since the "was doing" form is usually used in relation to another action, like smallwhite's example. I think that just illustrates your point (which I fully agree with) further, though: avoid trying to map English tenses one-to-one to Romance language ones. The logic of whether to use perfect or imperfect is pretty simple in most cases (I'd say far simpler than the logic for which past form to use in English!) and one just needs a bit of study to get one's head around the idea of discrete versus continuous actions, but English-speaking learners tend to over-complicate it and get confused by trying to understand it in terms of how English works.