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- "Er und ich sind schon von kl…
"Er und ich sind schon von klein auf gute Freunde."
Translation:He and I have been good friends since childhood.
35 Comments
536
This is a really interesting sentence. But the logic of it is escaping me. Would anyone mind giving me an literal English translation of it?
Literal translation: He and I have been good friends from small/little on. In german, we often say 'klein' for 'young'. 'von klein auf' is something like 'from or since being little onwards', if that helps you any further. Edit, after looking it up on wiktionary: 'von klein auf' is a collocation, by the way, and transfered into 'normal speach' it means 'schon seit der Kindheit' which literaly translates to 'already since childhood'.
536
Danke! That was very helpful.
So "sind" can also mean "have been"? I did not know that. I thought it was always present tense.
Yes, it can. In this case "have been" means that you are still friends, aren't you? So it is present.
However, phrases like "I have cooked the breakfast" can't be translated with Präsens, you'll have to use Perfekt: Ich habe das Frühstück gekocht. The structure is very similar to English Present Perfect.
963
If the action began in the past and is continuing, use seit + present tense.
Wir sind seit drei Wochen/einem Tag/zwei Jahren/einer Stunde in Berlin. We have been (and still are) in Berlin for three weeks/one day/two years/one hour. http://www.lsa.umich.edu/german/hmr/Grammatik/Praepositionen/Prepositions.html#other
I think "since we were little" or "since we were kids" would be the most likely to be said by a native English speaker. I do understand that Duo looks for the closest to literal translation, but since we seem to be getting into idioms and phrases which don't translate directly as well, it seems like more flexibility would be reasonable provided the meaning is identical.
1114
There is no prepositional phrase "auf gute Freunde" here. As Sufi72 has pointed out, the sentence can be re-arranged as:
Schon von klein auf sind er und ich gute Freunde.
So "gute Freunde" is in the nominative case.
985
OK, I think my English fails me this time... Why is "He and I are good friends since childhood." not accepted?
1114
Because using the present tense (that is, "are") is not something a native speaker would do. For something that extends from a point in the past up to the present, you have to use the present perfect (that is, "have been"). Another example:
- I am using Duolingo for two months. Wrong
- I have been using Duolingo for two months. Correct
EDIT: Oops, I originally wrote "past perfect" - have now corrected it to "present perfect".
290
As a native English speaker I think would be more likely to say "from" childhood, and I think that should be accepted