Why does "how long HAVE YOU STUDIED Italian" translate as... da quanto tempo studi l' italiano... instead of... da quanto tempo hai studiato l'italiano?
Isn't "studi" a present tense verb?
Is there a rule somewhere I am missing???
Are both appropriate???
Concerning "how long have you been...???"
tommaso
April 6, 2010
Maria-DiLorenzi
April 13, 2010
Hi Tommaso,
if you want to ask how long something has been going on, in English you normally use the present perfect tense.
For example: How long have you studied Italian?
In Italian instead we use present tense.
So you will say:
Da quanto tempo + verb in the present
Example:
Da quanto tempo studi l'italiano?
How long have you studied Italian?
I hope this helps :)
mspringer
April 22, 2010
When the action is assumed to still be going on (still studying) the present tense is used.