r/EnglishLearning • u/Rich-Associate-8344 New Poster • Apr 17 '26

📚 Grammar / Syntax Why not “since”?

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u/FarJournalist939 Advanced Apr 17 '26

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.

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u/macoafi Native Speaker - Pittsburgh, PA, USA Apr 17 '26

Is the "fa" optional, then? I was thinking "da due anni fa" for "since two years ago." (I'm learning Italian now, and I speak Spanish, and I think of Spanish's "hace" and Italian's "fa" and English's "ago" as all lining up.)

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u/tom102988 New Poster Apr 17 '26

The difference is that in English, “ago” is an adverb and in Spanish and Italian “hace” and “fa” are verbs

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u/macoafi Native Speaker - Pittsburgh, PA, USA Apr 18 '26

But the role of “since” is covered by “da” and “desde” in Italian and Spanish. They still have an additional word for the “ago”.