"A banda tem oito anos de existência."

Translation: The band is eight years old.

[marijke.va1]

Tem is not past,so why existed in stead of exists ?

[drift_glass]

It's idiomatic. The band has eight years = the band is eight years old

[golfinho_barbudo]

I think marijke.va1's question was about "why is the present tense like 'the band exists for two years' not accepted as a correct answer"". I'm going to suggest this as a correct option through "report a problem".

[Alexs07]

Agreed with gofinho_barbudo.I was thinking the same thing. I'm an English native and teacher. In English 'has exsisted' implies the duration until now meaning the action is not finished yet.

[jaaadz]

It wouldn't be grammatical, and it's not grammatical in English either, except in the correct context. How can you have something existing for 2 years in a certain point in the PRESENT? If it were to make sense, however, it would be "A banda existe por dois anos," so your answer would be incorrect as well.

[GuidoScope]

I don't agree with you. When you say "the band existed for eight years" in English, it implies the band doesn't exist anymore. When you say "the band exists for eight years" in English it implies the band still exists. I'm not sure about this in portuguese. But I suppose it's the same. So I suppose the present time translation is the more correct one.

[kcmurphy]

"The band exists for eight years" sounds very unnatural to me. I'd never express it that way. I would only say "the band HAS existed for eight years" to express that it still exists.

[emeyr]

The band is eight years old. This is a statement of fact focused on the present.

The band has been in existence for eight years. Present perfect tense describes an interval of time from the past until the present moment.

"The band exists eight years." (incorrect)

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/verbs/present-tense/present-perfect

[Thomas.Heiss]

Hi Guido,

I made the same "...exists...." error :-)

Is there any difference in English between "existed" and "has existed"?

To rate Emeyr's answer "The band has been in existence for eight years"* below, which was accepted today:

I understand this sentence, but how can the sentence be correctly rephrased with "existing", I am curious? Or is there no "existing" in English?

"The band has been existing for eight years" does not sound right AND it was not accepted :-)

"The band was existing for eight years" (I am unsure about this, sounds not good!?!) was NOT accepted too.

[Koreatown]

Do native Portuguese speakers really say it this way?

[Paulenrique]

We usually dont add "de existência"

[Raymond704692]

In English, the word "exist" does not indicate a duration. It describes a state of being now, in the present. If you want to indicate duration (eg 8 years) you must use a past or future tense. Eg. Has existed for / has been in existence for (or since) / was in existence from A to B / did exist for / will exist for / can exist for / etc. More usual would be "The band's been together for 8 years". Or perhaps, It was twenty years ago today / Sgt. Pepper taught the band to exist.

[Thomas.Heiss]

Hi Raymond,

I made the same "...exists...." error :-)

Is there any difference in English between "existed" and "has existed"?

[emeyr]

The band existed for eight years. Simple past describes a finished event. The band no longer plays.

The band has existed for eight years. Present perfect describes an ongoing event: the band was formed eight years ago and continues to play.

[Sabin]

"The band is in existence eight years" I don't understand why this is wrong it means the same as "The band is eight years old" which is given as one of the correct options. Like marijke.va1 I don't see how "The band was in existence..." can be correct.

[nickgeorge99]

Thomas Heiss the difference between the simple past tense "existed" and the present perfect tense "has existed" in english is VERY small. the main difference is that the simple past is only used to talk about actions that have happened and ended in the past. this is like "I worked all day long." the present perfect tense "has existed" can mean one of two things in terms of time. It could be an event the was in process in the past and has LITERALLY just ended as you are speaking like when you say "I have worked so hard on this piece, and its finally done" or the present perfect can refer to actions that started in the past and are still occurring as you speak. this is like "I have stood here all day, and I am still standing as we speak"

[Paul169801]

I think the closet English equivalent would be "The band has been around for eight years".

[kalomfa]

It's so hard not to hear "tem MUITOS anos de existência" because of the preceding "tem"!! The only clue is that yoju don't hear the "s" for "muitos"