How long have you been learning Italian? How long have you been living where you live now? Questions and answers with “how long” are quite different in Italian compared to in English, but they’re actually quite simple when you know how. All you need is the little word “da”. Find out more in episode 67 of 5 minute Italian.
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Today’s Italian Vocabulary
Da quanto tempo vivi in Italia? = How long have you been living in Italy?
Da = since
quanto tempo = how much time
Vivi = you live
in Italia = in Italy
Da quanto tempo = how long have you…. (lit. since how much time)
Vivo in Italia da quasi 10 anni = I’ve been living in Italy for almost 10 years.
Vivo = I live
in Italia = in Italy
da = since
quasi = almost
dieci anni = ten years
E tu? = And you?
Ovviamente vivi in Italia da tutta la vita, più o meno = Obviously you’ve been living in Italy for your whole life, more or less.
Ovviamente = obviously
vivi = you live
in Italia = in Italy
da = since
tutta la vita = the whole life
più = more
o = or
meno = less
Ma da quanto tempo vivi a Milano? = But how long have you been living in Milan?
Ma = but
Da = since
Quanto tempo = how much time
Vivi = you live
A Milano = in Milan
Vivo a Milano da 8 anni = I’ve been living in Milan for 8 years.
Vivo = I live
a Milano = in Milan
Da = since
8 anni = eight years
Vivo IN Italia = I live in Italy (for countries)
Vivo A Milano = I live in Milan (a for cities)
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Transcript
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
Katie: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a 5 Minute Italian. I’m Katie
Matteo: And I’m Matteo, ciao!
K: And in today’s lesson, we’re going to learn how to talk about how long you’ve been doing something, using the word “da”. The good news is, it’s actually a lot simpler compared to English.
M: Let’s listen to the dialogue.
K: Cominciamo. Let’s start.
M: Da quanto tempo vivi in Italia?
K: Vivo in Italia da quasi 10 anni. E tu? Ovviamente vivi in Italia da tutta la vita, più o meno. Ma da quanto tempo vivi a Milano?
M: Vivo a Milano da 8 anni.
K: So the first question you heard was:
M: Da quanto tempo vivi in Italia?
K: How long have you been living in Italy? Word for word, that’s
Da = since
quanto tempo = how much time
Vivi = you live
in Italia = in Italy
K: So here we can see this structure that Italians use to ask about how long you’ve been doing something. They literally say “since how much time” (da quanto tempo) followed by the verb in the present tense. In this case “vivi”, which means “you live”.
If you need a little fresher on verbs in the present tense, you can go back and listen to episode #39. For now, let’s break down the rest of the conversation. I replied:
M: Vivo in Italia da quasi 10 anni.
K: I’ve been living in Italy for almost 10 years. Literally:
M:
Vivo = I live
in Italia = in Italy
da = since
quasi = almost
dieci anni = ten years
K: And here we can see the reply. To talk about how long you’ve been doing something in Italian, use “da” (since) plus the verb in the present tense. In this case “vivo” which means “I live”. So to say “I’ve been living in Italy for almost 10 years, we literally say “I live in Italy since 10 years”. Vivo in Italia, da 10 anni. Next, I said to Matteo.
M: E tu?
K: And you?
And I followed up my question with:
M: Ovviamente vivi in Italia da tutta la vita, più o meno.
K: Obviously you’ve been living in Italy for your whole life, more or less.
M:
Ovviamente = obviously
vivi = you live
in Italia = in Italy
da = since
tutta la vita = the whole life
più = more
o = or
meno = less
K: And here again, we hear this structure “da” + present tense. Vivi in Italia da tutta la vita. Literally, you live in Italy since your whole life. Next, you heard the question
M: Ma da quanto tempo vivi a Milano?
K: But how long have you been living in Milan?
M:
Ma = but
Da = since
Quanto tempo = how much time
Vivi = you live
A Milano = in Milan
K: And here we have the question again: how long have you…? Which in Italian is literally: “since how much time”. “Da quanto tempo…?” plus the present tense. Da quanto tempo vivi a Milano? And Matteo replied:
M: Vivo a Milano da 8 anni
K: I’ve been living in Milan for 8 years.
M:
Vivo = I live
a Milano = in Milan
Da = since
8 anni = eight years
K: Another nice example of this structure “da” plus the present tense. Vivo a Milano da otto anni. Literally: I live in Milan since 8 years. Vivo a Milano da 8 anni. In a moment, we’ll listen to the conversation again, but before we do, I’ll quickly chat about one more little detail.
Did you notice the difference between “Vivo IN Italia” (I live in Italy) and “vivo A Milano” (I live in Milan)?
M: This is because we use “in” for countries. Vivo in Francia (I live in France), vivo in Inghilterra (I live in England). But we use “A” for cities. Vivo A Parigi (I live in Paris), Vivo A Londra (I live in London.
Let’s listen to the conversation again.
M: Da quanto tempo vivi in Italia?
K: Vivo in Italia da quasi 10 anni. E tu? Ovviamente vivi in Italia da tutta la vita, più o meno. Ma da quanto tempo vivi a Milano?
M: Vivo a Milano da 8 anni.
K: Another example of when you could use this structure is:
M: Da quanto tempo studi l’italiano?
K: How long have you been studying Italian? And how would you answer?
M: Studio l’italiano da….
K: And then say how much time. So for example, to say “I’ve been studying Italian for 2 years”, you could say….”
M: Studio l’italiano da due anni.
K: Perfetto.
Before we go, we have some news. If you’ve been studying Italian for a little while now, but you still struggle with speaking, we have something for you. You’re invited to join our mini Italian conversation course. It’s completely free, and we’ll send you the first lesson as soon as you sign up. You’ll find the link in the show notes. We’d love to see you in there!
That’s it for today’s episode, ciao for now, see you next time or as we say in Italian,
M: Alla prossima!
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