Word
Wir sind seit einem Tag hier.
Meaning
We have been here for a day.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Wir sind seit einem Tag hier.
Why does the German sentence use the present tense Wir sind instead of a past tense for 'We have been'?
In German, when a situation started in the past and is still continuing right now, you use the present tense. English uses the present perfect ('have been'), but German literally says 'We are here since one day'.
The English translation says 'for a day', so why do we use seit instead of für?
Because the action is still ongoing! You use seit (since/for) when something started in the past and hasn't stopped. If you used für, it would usually imply a planned duration, like booking a hotel für einen Tag (for one day).
Why is it einem Tag and not just ein Tag?
The preposition seit is a 'dative preposition', meaning it always forces the noun that follows it into the dative case. Because Tag is masculine (der Tag), the word for 'a' or 'one' changes to its dative form: einem.
Could I change the word order and say Wir sind hier seit einem Tag?
People would understand you, but it sounds unnatural. German strongly prefers to put time information before place information (a rule often called 'Time before Place'). So the time phrase (seit einem Tag) comes before the location (hier).