"I have been waiting since August."
Translation:Aspetto da agosto.
42 Comments
From "A Reference Grammar of Modern Italian": "In Italian (as in many other European languages) the form of the verb used expresses the fact that the action 'overlaps' a point of time in the present, that it is still going on. In other words, in such constructions Italian uses a present tense form: Vive a Parigi da anni ( he has lived in Paris for years); Luigi canta ormai da tre ore (Luigi has been singing now for three hours) . . ”. Hope this helps.
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"he has lived in Paris for years" Spanish "European language" and spoken in the American continent as well, this sentence would be something like this " El ha vivido en Paris por años" Not present tense form :)
El HA vivido es presente Perfecto en español... No es "a", es "ha" del verbo auxiliar haber
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Gracias por corregirme. Si presente perfecto, por eso escribi "Not present tense" :)
Don't listen to what Duolingo translates when you hover over a word. I don't know why but as we learn more, Duo just fails to translate it properly and you have to think about the sentence yourself. This isn't really helpful when you're learning something new, and you're forced to lose a heart so you can learn from your ''mistakes''.
I'm not sure but if it's like latin you don't need to use "ho" because the have is not active "i have a thing" it's changing the tense of "to be" from perfect "i was" to passive perfect "i have been".
I don't know if this is a difference in Italian and latin or a duolingo simplification, but I would expect the Italian to be a passive perfect "to have been" and a present participle "waiting" to make the past perfect continuous statement.
either way we haven't learned anything other than present active, except for piace which is passive, so it's weird that they would throw us a non present active tense
Sorry Cathandrius, In English "have + past participle (been)" isn't a passive it's the (active) present perfect. The addtion of a present participle (in this case: waiting) makes it the (still active) present perfect progressive/continuous.
Wrong tense. That would mean had been waiting. Io sono stato aspettando da agosto would be correct.
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I took a chance and put "ho aspettato" ... Ho, I have.... Aspettato, been waiting. Ho stato would be, I was waiting. I got it right.
You want more complexity? That's how you say it. "Da" can mean "since": http://www.wordreference.com/enit/since
Spelled it wrong maybe. Aspettato da Agosto(waited since August). The correct answer is Ho aspettato de Agosto( I have been waiting since August) I wonder if you can say Io aspettato..hmm
why does the drop down box say Aspettado & the correct answer is Aspettato This seems to happens with many words!!
Da agosto, versus d'agosto? What's the difference? Why is the second one wrong?
Two others have already asked this, but neither have gotten an answer, so I will give it a try... Why isn't "da agosto" contracted to "d'agosto"? If it can be, Duolingo doesn't accept it (I tried!)...
i dont know if it's still relevant but a native speaker had mentioned before that they don't tend to connect da to the following word even if that's an option
I think... aspetto = i wait, aspettato = i have been waiting Annoying since I only know that after googling, not having been taught by DL :(
Am I safe to assume there is another way to say "I have been waiting since August," perhaps with a more complex verb conjugation of "to wait"? This literally translated means "I wait from August," right?
This just came up in a practice session. I haven't even started other tenses yet oO
it should be ho aspettando da agosto because aspettato is the past tense form of wait aspettando is youre still waiting. If it said had been waiting or had waited since august aspettato da agosto would be correct
I'm sorry MattTaylor14007, but you are incorrect. Aspetto da agosto is the correct way to translate it. For ongoing action that began in the past, in Italian you use the present tense + da + span of time/ beginning of time frame.
This link provides elaboration : http://italian.about.com/library/fare/blfare137a.htm
sorry but aspetto means i wait not i have been waiting so why it says i have been waiting is beyond me but aspettando means i have been waiting
It means "I wait" and also "I am waiting", but "Sto aspettando" also means I am waiting. In the instance where one wishes to express ongoing action that begins in the past, the rules of the Italian language indicate that one should use the present tense form (aspetto, in this case) + da + the time frame. I didn't make the rules. But that is the rule.
