[Originally posted on 10/02/13 on the Duolingo French for English speakers forum by DXLi]
IMO, the most frustrating parts of this module are sentences that contain “depuis que”, mostly because of how Duolingo expects you to translate them. Both the French and English versions are awkward, but I think I’ve figured out quick guidelines to help everyone keep those three hearts.
Here are a couple guidelines for getting these translations correct (as of 10/1/13):
1) The main clause (at the beginning) should always be in present perfect progressive, e.g. “I have been pretty”, “I have been reading”, and “she has been writing”.
2) The subordinate clause (following “depuis que”) should be in present perfect progressive except when it refers to something that is no longer true. In that case, it should be in past simple.
- “…depuis que je suis blond” = “…since I have been blond” (I’m still blond)
- “…depuis que je suis jeune” = “…since I was young” (I’m no longer young)
When the subordinate clause is about age, you can assume it’s going to be in past tense.
I have no idea why Duo translates it like this. Just go with it and know that nobody really speaks like this in either language.
Explanation: “Depuis que” translates to “since”, but this is misleadingly simple for three reasons.
One, this “since” is about time, not causation. It’s “since the time” rather than “because”. For instance, “…depuis que je suis blond” means “since I have been blond”, not “because I am blond”.
Two, the English present perfect progressive tense (“I have been”) can translate to the French simple present tense (“je suis”), as you can see above.
Three, “depuis” is just a preposition (e.g. “Since when?” = “Depuis quand?”) but “depuis que” is a subordinating conjunction, which is the start of a subordinating clause. That’s the difference between “depuis” and “depuis que”.
EDIT: Changed rule #2 to be more generalized. Thanks to Sitesurf.
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