Present
Présent · now, habits and facts
- it expresses elapsed time
FRENCH VERB
faire
to express elapsed time
- Irregular -re verb
- Past participle: fait
- Present participle: faisant
Conjugation
Tap any form to hear it. The part that changes is in colour.
Past
Passé composé · finished actions
- it expressed elapsed time
Imperfect
Imparfait · “used to” and “was …ing”
- it used to express elapsed time
Future
Futur simple · plans; in speech, “je vais parler” is just as common
- it will express elapsed time
Conditional
Conditionnel · “would”, polite requests
- it would express elapsed time
Present subjunctive
Subjonctif présent · wishes, doubts, “il faut que …”
- (that) it express elapsed time
How to use faire
One sentence for each tense, the way people say it.
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Present
Ça fait trois mois que je ne l'ai pas vu.
It's been three months since I saw him.
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Past
Hier, ça a fait un an qu'on s'est rencontrés.
Yesterday it was a year since we met.
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Imperfect
Ça faisait des années qu'elle voulait voir Rome.
She'd wanted to see Rome for years.
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Future
En mai, ça fera dix ans qu'on habite ici.
In May it'll be ten years that we've lived here.
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Conditional
Sans cette pause, ça ferait six heures qu'on roule.
Without this break, we'd have been driving for six hours.
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Present subjunctive
Je ne pense pas que ça fasse si longtemps que ça.
I don't think it's been that long.
Good to know
- Ça fait deux ans que j'habite ici : ça fait with the present says how long something has been going on.
- Ça faisait longtemps ! is what you say when you see someone again after a long time.
Where you hear faire
The lessons that teach a form of it, and how they say it.
French · Beginner Level 2
- Ça fait une semaine. It's been a week.
- Ça faisait une semaine. It had been a week.
- Demain, ça fera une semaine. Tomorrow, it will have been a week.
Verbs like this one
The same pattern, on other verbs: irregular -re verb.