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| PHOTO 1 | PHOTO 2 | PHOTO 3 | PHOTO 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| A French classroom clock turns the passing day into useful vocabulary. | Learning to talk about time involves more than learning the numbers. | A station clock reminds us that sometimes every minute matters. | At the gare, knowing the duration and knowing the departure time are two different things. |
Durer, prendre, mettre or falloir? Learn how to ask politely how long something lasts or takes in natural French.
I thought asking “How long will it take?” in French would require one dependable sentence.
I had already learned combien de temps. I knew that meant “how much time” or “how long.” All that remained, surely, was to attach a verb and carry on with my day.
Then I met durer, prendre, mettre, falloir and prévoir.
What I had expected to be one sentence turned out to be a small French roundabout with several exits. None of them was especially dangerous, but I did need to know which lane I was in.
Was I asking how long an event lasts?
How much time a task takes?
How long a person will need to do something?
Or how much time I should allow in my schedule?
English uses “How long?” for all of these. French prefers to know exactly what is taking up the time.
The essential distinction
The simplest way to choose the right French expression is to identify the subject of the sentence.
Use durer when an event, activity or situation lasts
The Académie française defines durer as continuing or extending over a certain period.
Combien de temps dure la visite ?
How long does the tour last?Combien de temps dure le film ?
How long is the film?Combien de temps va durer la réunion ?
How long will the meeting last?Combien de temps durent les travaux ?
How long will the construction work last?
The subject is the thing occupying the period of time: the visit, film, meeting or roadworks.
This is the natural home of durer.
Use prendre when a task or process takes time
Combien de temps prend le trajet ?
How long does the journey take?Combien de temps cela va prendre ?
How long will that take?Ça prend combien de temps ?
How long does it take?
Here, the journey, process or task “takes” a certain quantity of time.
Use mettre when a person takes time to do something
The Académie française gives examples such as mettre du temps à accomplir une tâche: to take time to complete a task.
Combien de temps mettez-vous pour préparer la commande ?
How long do you take to prepare the order?Combien de temps avez-vous mis pour remplir le dossier ?
How long did it take you to complete the application?J’ai mis deux heures à tout préparer.
It took me two hours to prepare everything.
With mettre, the subject is usually the person doing the work:
J’ai mis une heure.
I took an hour.
With prendre, the task itself can be the subject:
Cela m’a pris une heure.
That took me an hour.
The result is almost the same. The French viewpoint has simply shifted.
Is Combien de temps dure… ? correct?
Yes—provided that something follows it.
Combien de temps dure… ? means:
How long does … last?
For example:
Combien de temps dure le spectacle ?
Combien de temps dure le rendez-vous ?
Combien de temps dure la cérémonie ?
Combien de temps dure le traitement ?
But Combien de temps dure ? by itself usually feels unfinished. The listener is waiting to learn what “it” is.
In conversation, French offers two easy alternatives:
Combien de temps ça dure ?
Ça dure combien de temps ?
Both mean “How long does it last?”
The second version—Ça dure combien de temps ?—is especially natural in everyday speech. French questions often keep the ordinary statement word order and place the question phrase at the end.
La visite dure une heure.
The tour lasts one hour.
becomes:
La visite dure combien de temps ?
The tour lasts how long?
It may look slightly informal on the page, but it sounds entirely normal in conversation.
Lasting and taking are not always interchangeable
Consider a hospital appointment.
I could ask:
Combien de temps dure le rendez-vous ?
This asks about the length of the appointment itself.
But I might instead ask:
Combien de temps faut-il prévoir pour le rendez-vous ?
This asks how much time I should set aside, perhaps including registration, waiting, preparation and the appointment.
And I could ask:
Combien de temps cela va prendre ?
This asks how long the whole thing is expected to take.
Those three questions may receive three different answers:
The consultation lasts 20 minutes.
The procedure takes 45 minutes.
I should allow two hours because there may be a wait.
This was the small revelation for me. I did not merely need a French translation of “How long?” I needed to decide which portion of time I actually wanted measured.
That is useful in any language, but French obliges me to think about it before opening my mouth.
The safest all-purpose question: Combien de temps faut-il prévoir ?
There is one expression that works in an extraordinary number of situations:
Combien de temps faut-il prévoir ?
How much time should one allow?
It is neutral, practical and difficult to misinterpret.
I can use it when asking about:
a museum visit
an administrative appointment
a medical procedure
a train connection
a restaurant meal before a concert
a repair
a walking route
an excursion
the time needed to complete a form
For example:
Combien de temps faut-il prévoir pour la visite ?
How much time should I allow for the visit?Combien de temps faut-il prévoir pour remplir le dossier ?
How much time should I allow to complete the application?Combien de temps faut-il prévoir entre les deux trains ?
How much time should I allow between the two trains?
For everyday spoken French, I might hear:
Il faut prévoir combien de temps ?
Or:
Il faut compter combien de temps ?
Compter here means to reckon on, expect or allow.
Il faut compter environ une heure.
You should allow approximately one hour.
That is an especially useful answer to recognize, because French websites and reception desks frequently explain durations using il faut compter.
How to make the question polite
The basic question is not inherently rude:
Ça prend combien de temps ?
Tone and context matter, however. A direct question can sound perfectly practical when spoken warmly, or slightly demanding when delivered as though someone is already taking too long.
The easiest way to make it polite is to add three small elements:
Excusez-moi
Pourriez-vous me dire…
S’il vous plaît
Polite and natural
Excusez-moi, pourriez-vous me dire combien de temps cela va prendre, s’il vous plaît ?
Excuse me, could you tell me how long this will take, please?
Polite for an event
Pourriez-vous me dire combien de temps dure la visite ?
Could you tell me how long the tour lasts?
Polite when planning a schedule
Savez-vous combien de temps il faut prévoir ?
Do you know how much time I should allow?
Polite when asking for an estimate
Auriez-vous une idée de la durée prévue ?
Would you have an idea of the expected duration?
Natural and friendly
Excusez-moi, il faut prévoir combien de temps, à peu près ?
Excuse me, roughly how much time should I allow?
I particularly like à peu près, meaning “approximately” or “roughly.” It tells the other person I am asking for an estimate, not requesting a legally binding promise calibrated to the second.
A very useful distinction: dure or va durer?
Both are possible.
Combien de temps dure la visite ?
This asks about the visit’s normal or scheduled duration.
Combien de temps va durer la visite ?
This asks how long the upcoming visit will last.
In real conversation, the distinction is not always dramatic. French speakers often use the present tense for scheduled activities:
La visite dure une heure.
Even when the visit has not begun, this can mean that its scheduled duration is one hour.
The future construction with aller is useful when the situation feels more immediate or uncertain:
Vous pensez que les travaux vont durer combien de temps ?
How long do you think the work is going to last?
For a more formal written question:
Combien de temps durera la cérémonie ?
That is correct and elegant, but in ordinary conversation, va durer will often feel more relaxed.
Questions that can sound impatient
Some expressions are grammatically innocent but carry a little cloud of irritation.
Ça va durer encore longtemps ?
Literally:
Is this going to last much longer?
In practice, it often means:
Surely this is not going to continue much longer?
It is the sort of question someone might ask during an argument, a noisy renovation or a speech that has entered its fourth conclusion.
Vous en avez encore pour longtemps ?
Literally:
Will you be much longer?
This may be a genuine question, but it can easily suggest:
Could you please finish?
C’est bientôt fini ?
Is it nearly finished?
Useful with a cake in the oven. Less charming when addressed to the person carefully repairing the plumbing.
When I truly need information rather than an opportunity to communicate my suffering, combien de temps faut-il prévoir ? is safer.
Do I need the finishing time instead?
Sometimes I do not really want to know the duration. I want to know when I will be released back into the world.
In that case, asking “how long” creates unnecessary arithmetic.
To ask when something finishes
À quelle heure finit le spectacle ?
What time does the show finish?À quelle heure se termine la visite ?
What time does the tour end?Vous pensez que nous aurons terminé vers quelle heure ?
Around what time do you think we will be finished?
A tour lasting 90 minutes is useful information. A tour ending at 17h30 may be more useful when my bus leaves at 17h42.
French has not made the question more complicated. It has merely exposed the fact that I had been asking the wrong question.
Four expressions that look similar but ask different things
Combien de temps ? — How long?
Combien de temps dure le film ?
Depuis combien de temps ? — For how long up to now?
The action or situation has already begun and is continuing.
Depuis combien de temps habitez-vous à Aix ?
How long have you been living in Aix?
Dans combien de temps ? — How soon from now?
Dans combien de temps arrive le bus ?
How soon will the bus arrive?
Pour combien de temps ? — For what intended period?
Vous partez pour combien de temps ?
How long are you going away for?
These little prepositions completely change the time perspective:
combien de temps measures a duration
depuis combien de temps looks backward from now
dans combien de temps looks forward from now
pour combien de temps asks about an intended or expected period
Practical phrases for real life in France
At a museum or tourist site
Bonjour, combien de temps faut-il prévoir pour la visite ?
La visite guidée dure combien de temps ?
At a medical appointment
Excusez-moi, savez-vous combien de temps l’examen va prendre ?
Dois-je prévoir toute la matinée ?
Should I allow the entire morning?
At a repair shop
Vous pensez que la réparation prendra combien de temps ?
Auriez-vous une estimation du délai ?
Would you have an estimate of the turnaround time?
At a government office
Combien de temps faut-il pour traiter le dossier ?
How long does it take to process the application?
Quel est le délai de traitement ?
What is the processing time?
Before an excursion
L’aller-retour prend combien de temps ?
How long does the round trip take?
When cooking
Pendant combien de temps faut-il laisser cuire le gâteau ?
How long should the cake be left to bake?
La cuisson dure combien de temps ?
How long is the cooking time?
When waiting
Combien de temps reste-t-il ?
How much time is left?
Il y a combien de temps d’attente ?
How long is the wait?
French learner tips by level
A1: Keep two dependable questions
For something that lasts:
Ça dure combien de temps ?
For something that takes time:
Ça prend combien de temps ?
These two sentences will cover a remarkable amount of daily life.
A2: Add falloir
Combien de temps faut-il pour faire ça ?
Combien de temps faut-il prévoir ?
These are neutral, flexible and excellent for appointments or activities.
B1: Ask for an estimate politely
Vous pensez que cela va prendre combien de temps ?
Pourriez-vous me dire combien de temps il faut prévoir ?
B2: Match the question precisely to the situation
Use:
durer for the duration of an event
prendre for the time consumed by a task
mettre for the time a person spends doing it
se terminer when the finishing time matters
le délai for processing or turnaround time
Advanced: Soften the expectation
Auriez-vous une idée du temps que cela pourrait prendre ?
Quelle serait, à peu près, la durée prévue ?
The conditional—pourrait, serait, auriez-vous—adds distance and courtesy. It is particularly useful when the person may not be able to give a precise answer.
Vocabulary: measuring the wait
la durée — duration
le délai — time limit, turnaround time, processing period
le temps d’attente — waiting time
la durée prévue — expected duration
environ — approximately
à peu près — roughly, more or less
prévoir — to plan for, allow
compter — to expect, reckon on
durer — to last
prendre du temps — to take time
mettre du temps à faire quelque chose — to take time to do something
se terminer — to end
rester — to remain
Combien de temps reste-t-il ? — How much time remains?
The French sentence I can now say
After experimenting with all the possible lanes around this grammatical roundabout, this is the sentence I most want ready at the reception desk:
Excusez-moi, il faut prévoir combien de temps, à peu près ?
It is natural, polite and practical.
More importantly, it does not sound as though I am accusing anyone of taking too long. I am simply trying to organise my day—perhaps around a bus, a lunch reservation or the increasingly urgent possibility of coffee.
I began with Combien de temps dure… ?
That was correct. It just was not the only question hiding inside the English phrase “How long?”
Now I know that an event dure, a task prend du temps, a person met du temps, and a careful foreigner prévoit toujours un peu plus de temps que prévu.
Sources for further information
Your turn
Which French “how long?” question have you needed most often—a medical appointment, a repair, a museum visit, a train connection or something else entirely? Share the phrase you used, the answer you received and whether the French estimate turned out to be magnificently optimistic.
The core distinctions in this post follow the Académie française’s definitions: durer means to continue over a period, while mettre du temps à accomplir une tâche describes the time a person spends completing it. (dictionnaire-academie.fr)
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