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Lo conosco dall'infanzia.

Lo conosco dall'infanzia.
I have known him since childhood.
From Lesson 99:Prepositions of time (da, per, tra, fra)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Lo conosco dall'infanzia.

Why does the English translation say 'have known' but the Italian sentence uses the present tense conosco?
In Italian, when an action started in the past and is still happening right now, you use the present tense combined with the preposition da. Because you still know him today, the literal Italian structure is 'I know him since childhood'.
Why is it dall'infanzia instead of just da infanzia?
The preposition da combines with the definite article la (the) to form dalla. Because infanzia starts with a vowel, dalla drops its final vowel and adds an apostrophe to become dall'. Italian usually requires definite articles before abstract nouns like childhood.
What is the word Lo doing at the beginning of the sentence?
Lo is a direct object pronoun meaning 'him'. In Italian, these pronouns must be placed immediately before the conjugated verb. So, Lo conosco literally translates to 'him I know'.
Could I use so (from sapere) here instead of conosco?
No, because Italian has two verbs for 'to know'. You use conoscere when you are familiar with a person, place, or thing. You use sapere for knowing facts or knowing how to do something. Since you are talking about knowing a person, conosco is the only correct choice.

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