"Depuis quand t'intéresses-tu à la politique ?"
Translation:Since when have you been interested in politics?
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479
In this case, I think "Since when are you interested in politics" should also be acceptable. It is a statement of surprise (in question form) about someone's new interest in politics, rather than a serious interview question.
This is why it deviates from the depuis + present tense (French) = since + past tense (English) rule.
Thoughts?
This is the answer I gave too, and I'd be interested to know the thoughts of others. I agree, 'since when are you interested in politics' is an informal/colloquial phrase, maybe grammatically dubious?!
- 1057
That is unnatural English, at least in the UK. I would always say, "Since when have you been ...".
I do not know whether the surprise is actually inherent in the French sentence: I doubt it, but perhaps Sitesurf or another native speaker might say?
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In my experience (British English only) "since when" is a construction only ever used to indicate that the person's interest in politics is so recent that the questioner doesn't believe in it - thinks they made it up on the spot! A serious non-mocking question would start "How long have you..". But I would use "have" in both cases - "are" might be the usage in the US, but would be wrong in England.
Agree completely with Mrs Wand, though in the USA the surprised/sarcastic version (since when are you) could take either tense, and I would prefer the present. How long works only with present perfect.
That has the same sense and would be a fine translation in most circumstances. On Duolingo it's better to stick to more literal translations when possible, though. The purpose of translation here is to verify that you understood the French; the more you rephrase things the more likely you are to hit upon something that isn't in the list of accepted responses.
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OK ignore. I see it now. The tense is wrong. It's just that, colloquially it is what I'd probably say. Tried to delete my first comment but can't.
I used "did you become" instead of "have you been" Marked wrong but sounds better to my English ears!
Poor translation to English as this sentence implies an element of surprise/disbelief that the person questioned has any interest in politics
I agree with others who have pointed out that "Since when?" (at least in American English) implies disbelief in or a challenge to something another person has stated. A better translation here would be "How long ...", although I know French has "depuis combien de temps". But do our French content creators realize "Since when ..." has a negative connotation?