Breakdown of Mein Bruder ist seit einem Monat arbeitslos.
sein
to be
mein
my
der Bruder
the brother
seit
since, for (time)
Questions & Answers about Mein Bruder ist seit einem Monat arbeitslos.
Why does the German sentence use the present tense ist when the English translation says 'has been'?
In English, we use the present perfect to talk about something that started in the past and is still happening. German approaches this differently. When an action or state is still ongoing, German uses the present tense (ist) combined with seit. Because he is still unemployed right now, it is treated as a present state.
Why is it einem Monat instead of ein Monat?
The word seit is a preposition that always forces the following noun phrase into the dative case. Because Monat (month) is a masculine noun (der Monat), the word for 'a' changes to the masculine dative form, which is einem.
Doesn't seit usually mean 'since'? Why is it translated as 'for' in this sentence?
The German word seit covers both 'since' and 'for' in English. When seit is followed by a specific starting point in time, like a date or a day, it means 'since' (like seit Montag). When it is followed by an amount or duration of time, as it is here with einem Monat (a month), it translates to 'for'.
How is the word arbeitslos formed?