Depuis vs Il y a: Since, For, or Ago? Use the timeline. Depuis measures forward from an earlier start, while temporal il y a looks back to locate something in the past. The same words can also present something as existing, and pendant handles a bounded span.

Put the two timelines side by side

These sentences both contain deux ans, but they point in different directions:

I have lived here for two years. The situation began two years earlier and still reaches now.

I arrived here two years ago. The phrase il y a deux ans locates the arrival in the past.

That is the practical difference. Depuis measures from a starting point toward a later reference point. Temporal il y a tells you how far back an event or reference point sits.

On 29 July I asked my tutor, “depuis means since right?” I had learned one translation and treated it as the whole word. I was missing the ordinary duration use: depuis lundi means since Monday, but depuis trois ans means for three years.

I am learning because my wife is French and I want to speak with her family without falling back into English. Roughly B2 by the end of 2026 is a target I set for myself. This question came from the middle of that work, not from having the distinction mastered.

I saved that exact depuis correction in Coucou, the early Telegram tutor I built for my own French practice.

A compact map

The first question for il y a is about function. Is the phrase locating something in the past, or presenting something as existing? Looking for a noun is not enough because a duration such as deux ans is also a noun phrase.

Depuis can become since or for in English

Use a starting point after depuis and English usually wants “since”:

• depuis lundi
• depuis janvier
• depuis mon arrivée
• depuis le début de l'année

Use a duration and English usually wants “for”:

• depuis deux ans
• depuis trois semaines
• depuis longtemps

French keeps the same word. Compare:

• Je travaille ici depuis lundi. I have worked here since Monday.
• Je travaille ici depuis deux ans. I have worked here for two years.

If both situations continue now, French commonly leaves the verb in the present. English often reaches for “have worked,” “have lived,” or “have been learning,” which makes a literal tense transfer tempting.

• Nous apprenons le français depuis six mois.
• Elle habite à Lyon depuis 2024.
• J'attends depuis vingt minutes.

All three began earlier and remain true at the moment of speaking.

Temporal il y a means ago

When il y a + duration works as a time marker, it places an event or reference point in the past:

• Je suis arrivé il y a deux ans.
• Je l'ai vu il y a une semaine.
• Elle a déménagé il y a trois mois.

Those examples use completed events in the passé composé. That pairing is common, but the time marker does not select the tense. An imperfect verb works when the meaning calls for background or an ongoing past situation:

• Il y a deux ans, je travaillais encore à Lyon.
• Il y a deux ans, je travaillais à Lyon quand j'ai reçu cette offre.

In both sentences, il y a deux ans means two years ago. The verb still follows the usual aspect decision. If that part is shaky, the passé composé vs imparfait guide handles it in detail.

The temporal phrase can move without changing its job:

• J'ai commencé ce travail il y a six mois.
• Il y a six mois, j'ai commencé ce travail.

Both mean that the start happened six months ago.

The other il y a presents what exists

Existential il y a introduces something as present or existing:

• Il y a un café près d'ici.
• Il y a deux personnes dans la salle.
• Qu'est-ce qu'il y a dans ce sac?

The distinction is clearest in a full sentence. Il y a deux ans, j'habitais à Lyon uses il y a deux ans as a temporal marker. Il y a deux livres dans cette boîte presents two books as existing there. Meaning and sentence structure do the work, not the fact that a noun follows.

There is also a third construction:

This means “I have lived here for two years.” The construction measures elapsed time in relation to the clause that follows. Here, the situation continues now, so it overlaps with:

• J'habite ici depuis deux ans.
• Ça fait deux ans que j'habite ici.

The clause does not have to describe a situation that still continues:

• Il y a deux ans qu'il est parti. It has been two years since he left.
• Il y a deux ans que je ne l'ai pas vu. I have not seen him for two years.

Do not read the opening il y a deux ans as “two years ago” and stop. The following que makes elapsed time relative to the clause.

Pendant gives the duration boundaries

Pendant presents a stretch of time as a bounded block:

The sentence treats those two years as a complete period. If the work is still true now, the usual present-day contrast is:

English can use “for two years” in both sentences. The English preposition does not settle the French choice.

A bounded span does not have to be in the past:

• Je vais rester ici pendant une semaine.
• Pendant les vacances, nous parlerons français chaque jour.
• Le musée ferme pendant deux heures à midi.

So “finished past period” is a frequent use of pendant, not its whole definition.

Depuis also works with a clause and a past reference

Put que after depuis when the starting point is a full event:

• Depuis que je suis arrivé, je connais mieux la ville.
• Depuis que nous habitons ici, nous prenons le train.
• Depuis qu'elle travaille le soir, elle dort plus tard.

The verb after depuis que depends on what that clause means. There is no single tense that must always follow it.

And the reference point for depuis is not always the present:

He had already been working there for five years in 2020. The five-year span reaches the past reference point en 2020. This is why “earlier start to a reference point” is safer than a blanket rule saying depuis always reaches now.

Practise one duration without translating first

Take deux ans and change the timeline around it:

Then add the existential use so it does not get folded into the time marker:

Say the five sentences without reading them. Change deux ans to six mois, then change the event. The useful hesitation is the moment before the French frame comes out, because that is where translating “for” or “ago” usually takes over.

Try this question next: Depuis quand apprenez-vous le français? You can answer with a starting point such as depuis janvier or a duration such as depuis six mois.

Last updated: 5 September 2026. This is a personal account from someone still learning, not expert linguistic advice. French examples reflect standard usage.

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