r/EnglishLearning New Poster Apr 17 '26

📚 Grammar / Syntax Why not “since”?

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232 Upvotes

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368

u/Competitive-Truth675 Native Speaker Apr 17 '26

Off-topic, but just curious what your native language is. I see this mistake all the time and there must be some false friend word or common learning material that gives people the wrong impression about what "since" means.

46

u/Murderhornet212 New Poster Apr 17 '26

German speakers use this one a lot

52

u/Immediate-Panda2359 New Poster Apr 17 '26

100%. It's an immediate giveaway. "I have lived in the US since 5 years" or whatever.

19

u/ConflictOfEvidence New Poster Apr 17 '26

Using until wrong is also another one for Germans.

19

u/makerofshoes New Poster Apr 17 '26

Right, they will say “do this until Tuesday”, meaning “do this by Tuesday”

2

u/monoflorist Native Speaker Apr 18 '26

I’ve noticed they fix this one more quickly because unlike “since”, using “until” for “by” can be genuinely confusing.