# until I was two years old



## artimedoros49

Hello,

I am having trouble with the preposition "until" in the above phrase.
I have had a couple of attempts. Is either of them correct?

Žil jsem v Francii, *dokud jsem měl dva roky.*
Žil jsem v Francii, *až do dva let.*

Thank you


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## Mori.cze

Žil jsem ve Francii (až) do (svých) dv*ou *let. is correct; I would prefer to add "svých" as a reference to _my_ age to avoid any possible confusion on which two years are ment, but it works without too. Also,_ až do_ takes genitive case, so you need to say _dvou_, not _dva_.
Žil jsem v Francii, dokud jsem *ne*měl dva roky. _Dokud_ takes a negative, and even though this version is correct, it would be more natural to say: Žil jsem v Francii, dokud _mi nebyly_ dva roky. That works, but in this particular case I prefer the first _až-do _version; this one makes me imagine you moving out of France on your second birthday exactly.


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## artimedoros49

Thank you for your explanation, Mori. 
Can I understand from this that (až) is not strictly required, i.e., that it could be omitted in informal speech and correspondence?


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## Mori.cze

_Až_ is indeed not required. I wouldn't say that it is less formal without, though. I feel practically no difference in style between the two options; if something, the _až _version is slightly more emotional, stressing the waiting-until part.

The version without _až_ is more versatile: with a long-term process you can use both, but the version without _až_ works with a momentary action too:
Until July I'll live in France: _Ve Francii budu (až) do července._
By July I will have moved out of France: _Z Francie se odstěhuji do července._


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## artimedoros49

Once again, thank you.


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