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- "Da quanto vivono in Italia?"
21 Comments
Does the presence of "da quanto" make "vivono" past tense? That's very confusing to me, since vivono is a present tense conjugation, but the translation says it's "lived". It doesn't make sense to translate with present tense, so I'm wondering why vivere isn't conjugated as past tense. If anyone can explain, that would be helpful. Grazie.
No it is still present tense. If an activity started in the past but continues into the present in a context like this the Italians use the present tense where we would use the past continuous in English. So the use of the present tense here is correct.
Thanks for this clear explanation. "activity started in the past but continues into the present . . . Italians use the present tense" feels like information I might actually be able to retain and apply. That's huge for me, since my memory isn't what it used to be. Grazie!
Quanto can mean "how much", "how long" and so on; "da" can mean since (da febbraio = since February). So "da quanto" is "since how much time ago", "for how long".
I agree too. I wrote "For how long". The right answer is: How long have they been living in Italy? which is correct, but the sentence to be translated is written in simple present and the translation is in present perfect continuous. It is confusing.
The meanings are different: "da quando" is "since when" (e.g. since January), "da quanto" is "how long" (e.g. six months).
They are still living in Italy, which explains the present tense, and in Italian you use present tense to express that. . If they no longer lived there it would be "Hanno vissuto in Italia per _ anni.".."They lived in Italy for _ years." However, I learned "da quando", not "da quanto"
Sorry this is off topic but can someone tell me why iPhone doesnt have these comments but Android smartphones do?
1542
i pad doesn't have them either . After a year and a half of duolingo i forgot my iPad and had to do it on a computer. No more iPad. This is much more useful.
No, the use of the present tense in the Italian indicates that they are still living there, so "did they live" does not work as it implies that they no longer live there (or if they do live there now, that they stopped living there and then went back some time later).
