Questions & Answers about Sinds januari houd ik bijen.
Why is this sentence in the present tense (houd) when the English translation uses 'have been keeping'?
In Dutch, if an action or state started in the past and is still happening now, you use the simple present tense. The word sinds (since) already tells us when it started. English uses the present perfect continuous for this, but Dutch keeps it simpler!
Why does the verb come before the subject here (houd ik)?
Is it possible to use standard word order and put the time phrase at the end?
Yes! You can absolutely say Ik houd bijen sinds januari. Putting Sinds januari at the beginning of the sentence is just a stylistic choice to put a little more emphasis on when you started the hobby.
The word for keep here is houden. Could I also use bewaren?
No, you can only use houden when talking about keeping, raising, or taking care of animals. Bewaren is used for keeping inanimate objects, like saving a document on your computer or keeping leftover food in the fridge.