Breakdown of Я до сих пор помню тот день.
день
day
я
I
помнить
to remember
тот
that
до сих пор
until now, still
Questions & Answers about Я до сих пор помню тот день.
Why does this sentence use до сих пор instead of the lesson's main focus, с тех пор?
This is a classic contrast. While с тех пор means "since then" (literally "from those times"), до сих пор means "until now" or "still" (literally "up to these times"). Notice the prepositions: с (from/since) marks a starting point in the past, while до (up to/until) marks the present moment as the endpoint.
What exactly do the words сих пор mean on their own?
They are fossilized archaic forms that only survive in a few set phrases today. Пор is the genitive plural of пора (time/period), and сих is the old genitive plural of сей (this). So, до сих пор literally translates to "up to these times."
Could I just use ещё or всё ещё here to mean "still"?
Yes, you could say Я всё ещё помню тот день. However, до сих пор is more emphatic here. It stresses the continuous passage of time, highlighting that "even up to this very moment," despite all the time that has passed, the memory remains.
Why is тот день in the accusative case? Don't verbs of remembering often use the preposition о?
The verb помнить (to remember / to hold in one's memory) is transitive, meaning it takes a direct object in the accusative case with no preposition. Learners often mix this up with вспоминать о / вспомнить о (to recall / to reminisce about), which requires the prepositional case.
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