I was living in Paris for five years when I first took a French class.

Question

I was living in Paris for five years when I first took a French class.

No source
Self-made sentence

Hello,
Once a native English speaker told me that my self made sentence example is wrong with "was living".
Do you agree with him? If yes, then why? Why doesn't it work?

Thank you.

Fivejedjon · Accepted Answer

You first took a French class at the end of the five years. I had been living ... is appropriate.

Sb70012 · Answer

Thank you. What about this one:

I was living in Italy for four years when I was a kid.

According to your explanation, this is also wrong and it should be written "I had been living in Italy for four years when I was a kid."

Am I right?

Thank you.

Fivejedjon · Answer

I'd prefer 'I lived', but that's beside the point. I had been living is not appropriate unless you have an end-point of a past time, eg, I had been living in Italy for four years when my father died,

CalifJim · Answer

sb70012I (1) was living in Paris (2) for five years ...

Parts (1) and (2) of this clause are inconsistent. (1) indicates an open time period, i.e., a period with no definite beginning or end, hence with no define duration. (2) indicates a closed time period; it specifies a duration.

Similarly, the following also sound awkward:

Paul was playing chess for an hour. / Steve was drinking beer for two hours. / Laura was sewing for several hours.

You can fix them by using the simple past.

played chess / drank beer / sewed
_____________

The second problem involves the use of that second clause (when I first took a French class). Such clauses are used to indicate events which interrupt the action in an open time period expressed by the past continuous. Hence,

I was living in Paris when I first took a French class.

Or for a more dramatic illustration of the general principle:

I was taking a nap when an elephant crashed through the roof.
on-going action - | - - - - - - interrupting event - - - - - - - - - - - -
indefinite period - | - - - - - definite point in time - - - - - - - - - -

By the way, note that "when I was a kid" is another period, not a point, and that's why it doesn't work well in another of your examples.
_____________

So you need one of the two patterns below, and you can't mix for-phrases and when-clauses.

I lived in Paris for five years.
I was living in Paris when I first took a French class.

See fivejedjon's post for more patterns.

CJ

I was living in Paris for five years when I first took a French class.

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