ans versus années

Lorie R.C1Kwiziq community member

ans versus années

Looking at these two sentences:

--Tu n'as pas bu d'alcool depuis cinq ans.

-Tu n'es pas allé en Australie depuis quelques années.

Why does one sentence use "ans" and the other use "années?"

This question relates to:French lesson "Using the compound past (Le Passé Composé) vs the present (Le Présent) in negative sentences with "depuis" (since/for) in French "

Asked 5 years ago

Like0Answer2

CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Lorrie,

We use 'année' in the second sentence for the sake of euphony, it is very hard to say -

quelques ans ( even with a liaison) so quelques années will be said.

But you could say -

Tu n'es pas allé en Australie depuis deux ans

Well spotted!

Like35 years ago

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

There is a bit of overlap between using ans and années. It also depends on whether you simply want to state the number of years or stress the duration.

Like05 years ago

Lorie R. asked: