EN: There has been

    • Marysunshine said:
    How would you say "There has been..." in french?
    Thank you very much for your time,

    Bye
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    it really pains me to write this but i have to. it depends.

    il y avait or il y a eu. it depends, please share the rest of the sentance :)
     
    vachecow121 said:
    what is the difference?
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    hmmm il y avait is something going on in the past.. but it desciribes a state in the past something with duration. il y a eu implies that the thing is over and done with.
     
    How would you say "There has been..." in french?
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    Most times,
    There has been X = Il y a eu X
    Example :
    There has been a fight = il y a eu une bagarre

    Also, very often, as I have tried to show in my examples, the noun that comes after it should be turned into a verb whenever possible to get a better, "Frenchier" result :

    There has been a lot of talk : on a beaucoup parlé
    or
    Il y a eu beaucoup de pourparlers/discussions

    There has been a fight = on s'est battu
    or
    il y a eu une bagarre

    there has been an exaggeration = on a exagéré
    or
    il y a eu de l'exagération

    If you feel uncomfortable about changing the structure of a sentence, stick with good ole "il y a eu", you (probably) won't be wrong.

    Benjy, I don't think "there has been" can be translated to "il y avait", "il y avait" = "there was".

    Oh dear! As I was checking my facts, I came across this little beauty :

    There has been for some time now much debate as to... [blah blah blah].

    And I am sorry to say that it "il y a eu" would not fit here, because the sentence implies there is still ongoing debate. So here you'd have to use the present tense in French:

    Depuis un certain temps il y a beaucoup de débats sur... [bla bla bla].
    or
    Depuis un certain temps on débat beaucoup sur... [bla bla bla].
     
    Egueule, what are you doing up so late? For me, it's only 11:25 at night (23h25). Fais dodo alors!

    SleepingComputer.jpg
    Ed
     
    hmm for some reason i thought id answer my own question instead of the one she asked. i read "there was" where everyone else read "there has been"
    so no, you cant use il y avait. its true ;)
     
    But you can use il y avait, Benjy. Please see Egueule's post above.

    There is no direct translation of English's present perfect into French. "There has been" is either "Il y a eu" or "Il y avait", depending on the context.

    The present perfect exists to make a link from the past to the present -- we use it to say "This happened in the past but it's still the case today" or something like that. No French conjugation is equivalent to this.

    So for example the sentence "There has been much debate over the years about use of the present perfect" would be translated with imparfait, not passé composé.
     
    kens said:
    So for example the sentence "There has been much debate over the years about use of the present perfect" would be translated with imparfait, not passé composé.
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    sadly, no, kens. this one is translated 'il y a eu au fil des années....'

    whereas this one
    There has been for some time now much debate as to...
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    is translated by 'depuis longtemps il y a un débat important, depuis longtemps maintenant le débat fait rage' etc..

    if you read egueule's post carefully, you'll notice egueule doesn't mention imparfait. it's the present that is required here.

    There has been for some time now much debate as to... [blah blah blah].

    And I am sorry to say that it "il y a eu" would not fit here, because the sentence implies there is still ongoing debate. So here you'd have to use the present tense in French:

    Depuis un certain temps il y a beaucoup de débats sur... [bla bla bla].
    or
    Depuis un certain temps on débat beaucoup sur... [bla bla bla].
    Click to expand...
     
    This is an interesting thread, even though as it continues I get tangled in the grammar --
    To further muddy the waters (how would you say THAT in French?), I remember from the distant past that fairy tales begin in French, Il y avait une fois ---
    Is this so?
     
    Hey Eguele,

    Merci! C'est assez longtemps, j'ai oubliee ---
    Votre photo, c'est charmant. Il etait une fois quand j'etais petite ---- la neige tombait et le vent soufflait --- jusqu'comme aujourd'hui.
    Bon Dimanche.
     
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