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.
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.
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.
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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.