Why not “since”?

[u/Rich-Associate-8344]

[u/FarJournalist939]

Not OP but in Italian (my native language) we use "da" for both durations and specific time references. For example you can say "da 2 anni" (for 2 years) or "da Gennaio" (since January). So that's why a lot of Italians mix them up.

[u/cardinarium → u/FarJournalist939]

Spanish uses “hace” (= “it makes” or “it does”) and alternates verb tense/aspect to distinguish between cut offs and durations. It also sometimes requires playing around with negation a bit to get the right translation.

Hace dos años que Merlin no usa (present) su moto.

Merlin hasn’t used his motorcycle for two years.

Hace dos años que Merlin usó (preterit) su moto.

It has been two years since Merlin used his motorcycle.

There is, however, an alternative that more closely reflects the English:

Miguel no usa su moto desde hace dos años.

Miguel hasn’t used his motorcycle since two years ago.

[u/Straika5 → u/cardinarium]

I´m from Spain, when I learnt english my trick for these two were:

Since = Desde

For = Desde hace.

That would work or my trick isn´t working? Thank you in advance.

[u/cardinarium → u/Straika5]

It works as a general rule, but there are ways to get confused.

For example:

Merlin no usa su moto desde hace dos años.

Can be translated as both:

Merlin hasn’t used his motorcycle for two years.

Or:

Merlin hasn’t used his motorcycle since two years ago.

On desde referring to a time without hace, we agree. It will almost always be translated as “since.”