I live here from five months ago

S

Shotokan1981

Member
Spanish (Spain)
I think I'm almost clear about this but I have a question.

Some days ago, I heard a native English speaker saying something like: "I live here from 5 months ago". When the word "ago" appears in a sentence, what must be used?, "since" or "from"?

Thank you.
 
    • juanpide said:
    En realidad esa frase es incorrecta,
    debería ser
    I have been living here for 5 months.
    o
    I lived here since (y un momento concreto)
    Click to expand...

    I agree up to a point, but in casual speech, we do say things like "I've been {verb-ing} since {time} ago," and I wouldn't call it incorrect. It is colloquial, but I don't think it breaks any grammar rules.

    That said, your versions definitely sound better.

    I have been living here for five months. :tick:
    I have been living here since March. :tick:
    I have been living here since five months ago. (acceptable in casual speech, but should be avoided in careful usage)
     
    gengo said:
    [...]
    I have been living here since five months ago. (acceptable in casual speech, but should be avoided in careful usage)
    Click to expand...
    Yes, I think this is fine, although I probably would not use it in writing (but then the whole sentence doesn't sound "written"). "Five months ago" establishes a specific point in the past, just as "last Friday" or "September 1, 2015" does. They could all be the answer to the question "When did X happen?," and I see no reason why they can't all equally be preceded by "since," in the right context.
     
    H8,
    The Newt said:
    They could all be the answer to the question "When did X happen?," and I see no reason why they can't all equally be preceded by "since,"
    Click to expand...
    I do see one: When DID something happen? asks about a specific point in the past, whereas since asks about a period of time the focus of which lies on the connection with the present that it establishes. It may be common in casual speech, and we non-native speakers and learners must acknowledge its use and not frown upon it, but strictly speaking it is wrong from a grammatical point of view.

    G.
     
    gvergara said:
    I do see one: When DID something happen? asks about a specific point in the past, whereas since asks about a period of time the focus of which lies on the connection with the present that it establishes. It may be common in casual speech, and we non-native speakers and learners must acknowledge its use and not frown upon it, but strictly speaking it is wrong from a grammatical point of view.
    Click to expand...

    I don't see how it is ungrammatical.

    I have been living here since last March.

    Here, "since last March" means "during the time extending from last March until the present."

    I have been living here since five months ago.

    Here, "since five months ago" means "during the time extending from five months ago until the present."

    The two constructions seem exactly the same to me. The fact that we usually do not use the second one is simply a matter of convention, not of grammar.
     
    gvergara said:
    H8,

    I do see one: When DID something happen? asks about a specific point in the past, whereas since asks about a period of time the focus of which lies on the connection with the present that it establishes. [...]
    Click to expand...
    My point about "When did something happen?" is that at least in some contexts we treat dates on the one hand and expressions with "ago" on the other as if they were syntactically equivalent. That by itself doesn't prove that we must treat them as equivalent in all contexts (and Gengo and I both agree that we don't always do so), but it does raise the question of why "I have been living here since five months aago" must be disallowed.

    What it comes down to is a philosophical question of whether it is "a matter of convention," as Gengo calls it, or a matter of what is grammatically right and wrong.

    EDIT: Fixed editing error.
     
    Last edited:
    Thanks for your priceless insights, as usual I do not by any means intend to school any native speaker on how they supposed to use the language that they speak since they were children, nor do I mean to cast doubt on how native people speak. It is just that after many years of training in English I have never come across a grammar book or a reliable source that combines these two "tense markers". To me, it feels wrong, as on the one hand since requires the moment in the past from which a current action/ event has been taking place (up to the present) to be stated. Ago, on the other hand, is not a point in the past, but an amount of time (minutes, days, weeks, and so on), and, being the learner that I will always be, that is what I think makes it ungrammatical.
     
    gvergara said:
    Thanks for your priceless insights, as usual I do not by any means intend to school any native speaker on how they supposed to use the language that they speak since they were children, nor do I mean to cast doubt on how native people speak. It is just that after many years of training in English I have never come across a grammar book or a reliable source that combines these two "tense markers". [...]
    Click to expand...
    That doesn't really surprise me; by their nature (and with good reason) grammar books tend towards conservatism. But for many of us, the model "When did it happen?" "Two years ago," feels like it's about setting a point in time, the difference between "Two years ago" and "August 24th, 2021" being that one counts backwards from the present and the other counts forward from an arbitrary point of origin in the past.

    But in any case, if you're not comfortable with "I have been living here since five months ago" you're not alone.
     
    The Newt said:
    But in any case, if you're not comfortable with "I have been living here since five months ago" you're not alone.
    Click to expand...

    Right. I didn't mean to muddy the waters here. By far the best way to say the above is "I have been living here for five months."

    I just wanted to say that 1) the above form is sometimes used by natives, and 2) I don't see anything grammatically inconsistent with it. It just sounds funny, for some reason.
     
    Shotokan1981 said:
    I think I'm almost clear about this but I have a question.

    Some days ago, I heard a native English speaker saying something like: "I live here from 5 months ago". When the word "ago" appears in a sentence, what must be used?, "since" or "from"?

    Thank you.
    Click to expand...
    I live here as of 5 months ago is more idiomatic
     
    I live here from five months ago is not correct. The correct sentence would be I have been living here for five months.

    I live here from five months ago sounds like a direct translation of the Spanish Vivo aquí desde hace cinco meses.

    Perhaps it is a mistake that has become fossilized in high-concentration Spanish-speaking communities in the US. Said and repeated and not corrected (since the meaning is understandable) until it sounds normal.
     
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