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seit

since

preposition ZYT Common
Time Time Expressions

Also means

for

Usage Note

seit takes the dative and marks a starting point still ongoing, so German uses the present tense where English uses the perfect: Ich wohne seit drei Jahren hier = 'I have lived here for three years'. It covers both 'since' (a point) and 'for' (a span). Don't confuse it with the conjunction seitdem.

Examples

"Ich lerne seit einem Jahr Deutsch."

Natural Translation

I have been learning German for a year.

Literal Translation

I learn since a year German.

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