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I have heard the following dialogue in the TV series Marseille:

  • A: Trois appels téléphoniques pour avoir un rendez-vous faut de la constance, huh?
  • B: Ou plutôt une ambition dévorante.
  • A: Tu me connais mal.
  • B: Depuis le temps.

Context: Two politic adversaries arrange a meeting and have this dialogue when they finally meet.

What does "depuis le temps" mean here? "Since the time" makes no sense in English.

1 Answer 1

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You can translate it into English as after all this time. It is an informal phrase that stresses that someone/something has been doing something or has been in a certain state for such a long time that one can have some expectations about it.

It can be used to shorten a longer phrase starting with "depuis le temps". In this case, it would be something like depuis le temps qu'on se connait.

Another example:

Je n'ai pas besoin de t'expliquer les règles, tu les connais, depuis le temps.

S'il était vraiment fou, ça se saurait, depuis le temps.

C'était une star dans les années 80, mais depuis le temps, le public l'a oublié.

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