{"id":58,"date":"2008-12-20T04:23:34","date_gmt":"2008-12-20T08:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=58"},"modified":"2008-12-20T04:23:34","modified_gmt":"2008-12-20T08:23:34","slug":"da-or-per","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/da-or-per\/","title":{"rendered":"Da or Per?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, while teaching English to a private student here in Italy,\u00a0I came across an interesting example in my English grammar book; it said: \u201cJohn and Ann have been married for 20 years\u201d. My student translated this sentence into Italian\u00a0word by word\u00a0as: \u201cJohn e Ann sono stati sposati per 20 anni\u201d<\/strong>. This is a wonderful example of the difference in use of the past tense in English and Italian. The literal translation made by my student means that John and Ann were married<\/span> for 20 years, but are not married anymore. How confusing!<\/span><\/p>\n

In Italian, when we want to express an action that started in the past and is still going on now in the present, we use the simple present tense<\/em>: John e Ann sono sposati da 20 anni<\/strong>, which translates literally as: John and Ann are married since<\/span> 20 years, but in reality means that they have been married for<\/span> 20 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

The passato prossimo<\/strong> (present perfect) is used to express an action that is finished, e.g. Mauro e Giulia sono stati fidanzati per 3 anni<\/strong>, which translate word by word as \u201cMauro and Julia have been engaged for 3 years\u201d, but with the English meaning of \u201cthey were engaged<\/span> for 3 years\u201d. Adesso Mauro e Giulia sono sposati da 5 anni<\/strong> literally translates as \u201cnow Mauro and Julia are married since 5 years\u201d, but it means that \u201cthey have been married for<\/span> 5 years\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n

The other important thing to notice are the prepositions used to express the period of time: per <\/strong>and da<\/strong>. Per<\/strong>, which is\u00a0normally translated as for<\/span>, is used to express a period of time that is now concluded: Mauro and Giulia sono stati fidanzati per<\/span> 3 anni<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Da<\/span><\/strong>, meaning literally since<\/span> or from<\/span>, is used to express a period of time that includes the present, in other words it still continues: Mauro e Giulia sono sposati da<\/span> 5 anni<\/strong>. However you need to be careful if da<\/strong> is followed by a<\/strong> or al<\/strong>. In this case da<\/strong> or dal<\/strong> and a<\/strong> or al<\/strong> are equivalent to the English from<\/span> and to<\/span>, e.g. Mauro e Giulia sono stati fidanzati dal<\/span> 2000 al<\/span> 2003<\/strong>. \u201cMauro and Julia were engaged from<\/span> 2000 to<\/span> 2003\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Are you getting a headache? Well, I still get confused sometimes in English, even though I have been speaking it for many years, parlo inglese da molti anni<\/strong> (literally, I speak English since many years), yet another example of this confusing difference!<\/span><\/p>\n

I remember when I was first in England somebody asked me: \u201cHow long have you been in England?\u201d My first thought was: \u201cWhy is he asking me a question in the past tense if I\u2019m here, now?\u201d because \u201chave you been\u201d implied to me as an Italian that I had been<\/span> in England but I wasn\u2019t there anymore, even though I was standing in front of him. Luckily my aunt, who has lived in England for almost 50 years, came to my rescue and answered for me.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Buona fortuna!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, while teaching English to a private student here in Italy,\u00a0I came across an interesting example in my English grammar book; it said: \u201cJohn and Ann have been married for 20 years\u201d. My student translated this sentence into Italian\u00a0word by word\u00a0as: \u201cJohn e Ann sono stati sposati per 20 anni\u201d. This is a wonderful example…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[740,839],"class_list":["post-58","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar","tag-italian-past-tense","tag-passato-prossimo"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t