Das Team arbeitet seit Januar an dem Projekt.
The team has been working on the project since January.
Breakdown of Das Team arbeitet seit Januar an dem Projekt.
arbeiten
to work
seit
since, for (time)
an
at, on (vertical) / to (addressee) / of (in quantity/stock expressions)
das Projekt
the project
der Januar
January
das Team
the team (at work)
Questions & Answers about Das Team arbeitet seit Januar an dem Projekt.
Why are the loanwords Team and Projekt neuter, and how do they form their plurals?
Why is the present tense arbeitet used to mean 'has been working'?
When an action began in the past and continues into the present, German uses the present tense combined with seit. Using a past tense here would imply that the team has finished working on the project.
Why use an for working 'on' a project, and why is it followed by dem?
The verb arbeiten specifically requires the preposition an when you are talking about working on a task or object. Because there is no physical movement toward a new destination, this two-way preposition takes the dative case (an dem Projekt), which is often contracted to am Projekt in everyday speech.
What case does Januar take after seit?
The preposition seit always forces the dative case. With standalone months, the article is usually dropped so we just say seit Januar. However, if you added an adjective, you would clearly see the dative ending, such as seit letztem Januar (since last January).
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