Word
Wohnen Sie seit einem Monat hier?
Meaning
Have you been living here for a month?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Wohnen Sie seit einem Monat hier?
Why does the German sentence use the present tense (Wohnen) when the English translation says "Have you been living"?
In German, if an action started in the past and is still happening right now, you use the present tense. Since the person is still living there, German uses the present tense wohnen combined with seit. English uses a past-related tense for this, which is a very common trap for beginners!
Does seit translate to "for" or "since"?
It translates to both! When seit is followed by a length of time like einem Monat (a month), it means "for". If it is followed by a specific starting point in time, like a month name or a year, it means "since".
Why is it einem Monat instead of ein Monat?
The word seit is a preposition that always requires the dative case, just like the prepositions bei, mit, von, and zu from your current lesson. Because Monat is a masculine noun (der Monat), the word for "a" changes from the basic ein to the dative form einem.
Why does hier come at the very end of the sentence?
German sentences generally follow a "Time before Place" rule. The time information (seit einem Monat) naturally comes before the location information (hier).