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

[Neilkenlang]

"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.

"I was speaking French today" isn't the passé composé, it's the imparfait.

The difference: the imparfait tense is used to describe events that happened in the past that happened over a period of time, (i.e. as a continuous action) whereas the passé composé is used to describe events that happened at a specific time. The imparfait can also be used to describe past habitual actions, such as 'I used to...', etc, as well as events that were going on when an event happened (e.g. 'I was watching tv when someone knocked on the door').

The 'I was' in 'I was speaking French today' means the action took place over a period of time, as opposed to at a specific time, meaning it was a continous action, so it's the imparfait, not the passé composé. I suggest you watch this video, which was created by a French native and expert teacher, to understand the difference between the two:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK5OMjjAc8A

My original question wasn't about the difference between the passé composé vs the imparfait, though. It was about whether the perfect progressive tenses exist in French or not. Thanks for the replies regarding that question.

[tastyonions]

The 'I was' in 'I was speaking French today' means the action took place over a period of time, as opposed to at a specific time, meaning it was a continous action, so it's the imparfait, not the passé composé.

You're still not understanding. You're trying to make a translation into a syllogism like:

1. "had been X-ing" is continuous
2. imparfait describes "continuous actions"
3. So I must use the imparfait to translate "had been X-ing"

Languages don't work like that. Even if the concept "makes sense" to you, you'll still end up saying a bunch of stuff that French people don't actually say if you proceed like this.

Nice touch linking a C2 level French speaker to a basic instructional video in English, btw. Du culot, as the French say.

[Neilkenlang]

You're still not understanding. You're trying to make a translation into a syllogism like:

1. "had been X-ing" is continuous
2. imparfait describes "continuous actions"
3. So I must use the imparfait to translate "had been X-ing"

No I wasn't. I was asking a question about the perfect continuous tense, and also disagreeing with the definitions of the imperfect vs perfect tenses that were discussed in this thread. Big difference.

Languages don't work like that.

SOME parts of languages do, other parts don't. In other words, sometimes tenses will line up exactly or close to that tense in English, other times they won't. At no point did I ever say otherwise.

Even if the concept "makes sense" to you, you'll still end up saying a bunch of stuff that French people don't actually say if you proceed like this. Nice touch linking a C2 level French speaker to a basic instructional video in English, btw. Du culot, as the French say.

It isn't a 'basic instructional video in English'. It's a video by an expert level native teacher of French. I'll take the word of a native speaker with a very large Youtube following over some guy in a forum who claims to be C2 level in French, but who clearly doesn't understand the basic difference between an imperfect and perfect tense. I suggest everyone watches the video to understand her explanation of the difference between these two tenses, and then get back to me as to if/why you disagree, and we'll take it from there...

[tastyonions]

It's kind of amusing that the video that you linked says precisely what people have been telling you in this thread. That the imparfait is used to describe (1) habitual or reoccurring actions in the past and (2) what was happening immediately before some other, punctual event happened. And neither of those usages applies to what you were trying to say ("I have been practicing my French today").

[Arnaud]

1) 'I have been practicing my French today' - j'ai pratiqué mon français aujourd'hui' (not natural)

Just a side note to explain why I said it's not natural: in real life, people don't say "pratiquer" with a language: you hear that only on YouTube or read it on blogs of polyglots or whatever because it's a convenient way to translate "practice a language with a native speaker"->"pratiquer une langue avec un (inter)locuteur natif". It's the ultimate mantra, you hear that constantly on the internet. In real life, (at least in my real life), I've never heard it once. People use the verb "faire" or 'parler".
So be careful with "pratiquer", it's an "anglicisme" more than anything else. After saying that, I suppose it's the eternal debate between the prescriptive vs the descriptive grammar: as it's more and more used online, I suppose you can use it...
Pratiquer is rather used with sports. Pratiquer le tennis, le karaté, une activité physique (et mangez cinq fruits et légumes par jour )

[smallwhite]

"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.

When would it be passé composé?

[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.

When would it be passé composé?

I'm struggling to think of an example actually! Even when answering a slightly contrived question like "when were you last speaking French?" (no second action), the closest translation would probably be imperfect... I'm happy to admit I was wrong unless someone can think of another example.

I don't want to put words in anyone's mouth but I'd speculate that Cavesa's mistake could have been due to a misunderstanding of English rather than French. Few non-native speakers, including advanced ones, fully understand and use the progressive tenses properly, while passé composé versus imparfait is quite elementary-level French. As I said, simpler than the English logic. I'll let her speak for herself though.

[tarvos]

I was speaking French sounds strange anyway, to me, in English, except in very particular circumstances. And it sounds especially wrong with the word "today". I guess you could say something like "I was speaking French earlier today to my mother, when the cat ran in through the doorway, a mouse dangling from its jaw."

[zenmonkey]

"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.

When would it be passé composé?

I'm struggling to think of an example actually! Even when answering a slightly contrived question like "when were you last speaking French?" (no second action), the closest translation would probably be imperfect... I'm happy to admit I was wrong unless someone can think of another example.

For example, forcing the continuous by saying "All day long, I have been practicing my French " translated to

"[Pendant] toute la journée, je me suis entraîné a parler en français."

vs

"Aujourd'hui, je m'entraînais à parler français."

By the way, using "pratiquer" as the English "practice" is a false friend.

If I write "Il pratique le français." It doesn't mean He is practicing French, it literally means he speak French well. If I write "je ne pratique pas le tennis." It doesn't mean I don't practice my tennis, it means I don't play tennis.

Elle pratique la médecine.
Je l'ai longtemps pratiqué.

[smallwhite]

"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.

When would it be passé composé?

I'm struggling to think of an example actually! Even when answering a slightly contrived question like "when were you last speaking French?" (no second action), the closest translation would probably be imperfect... I'm happy to admit I was wrong unless someone can think of another example.

For example, forcing the continuous by saying "All day long, I have been practicing my French " translated to

"[Pendant] toute la journée, je me suis entraîné a parler en français."

vs

"Aujourd'hui, je m'entraînais à parler français."

The sentence was: I was speaking French today.