نحن نعيش في هذا المبنى منذ شهرين، وما زلت لا أعرف كل الجيران.

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Breakdown of نحن نعيش في هذا المبنى منذ شهرين، وما زلت لا أعرف كل الجيران.

• يعيش: to live
• في: in
• و: and

Questions & Answers about نحن نعيش في هذا المبنى منذ شهرين، وما زلت لا أعرف كل الجيران.

Is نحن necessary here, or could the sentence just start with نعيش?

نحن is not strictly necessary.

Arabic verbs already show the subject, so نعيش by itself already means we live.
The speaker includes نحن for clarity, emphasis, or simply natural style.

So both are possible:

• نحن نعيش في هذا المبنى...
• نعيش في هذا المبنى...

The first is a little more explicit.

Why is نعيش in the present tense even though the sentence includes منذ شهرين?

Because the action/state started in the past and is still continuing now.

In Arabic, the present tense is commonly used for something that began earlier and continues into the present, especially with منذ.

So:

• نعيش منذ شهرين = we have been living for two months / we have lived for two months

This is very natural in Arabic, even though English often uses a present perfect or present perfect progressive form.

What does منذ mean here? Is it since or for?

Here منذ means for, because it is followed by a period of time:

• منذ شهرين = for two months

But منذ can also mean since when it is followed by a starting point in time: