Learn Spanish (Spain): El problema dura desde el verano pasado. - The problem has lasted since last summer.

We use desde because el verano pasado (last summer) is a specific point in time when the problem started. You use desde hace when talking about a duration or amount of time, like desde hace tres meses (for three months).

Why is dura in the present tense when the English translation says 'has lasted'?

In Spanish, if an action started in the past and is still continuing right now, you use the present tense. English uses the present perfect ('has lasted'), but Spanish uses the simple present (dura) together with a time marker like desde.

Why is it el problema and not la problema?

Even though it ends in -a, problema is a masculine noun. Many Spanish words that end in -ma (like el tema or el idioma) are masculine because they originally came from Greek.

Why is there an el before verano pasado? The English translation just says 'since last summer.'

Spanish usually requires a definite article (el, la, los, las) before seasons, days of the week, and dates when referring to a specific time. So, 'since last summer' translates literally as 'since the last summer' (desde el verano pasado).