# è da molto che mi sono abituato a



## rino delbello

Salve

Sto traducendo alcune frasi per un mio studente, dato che nella frase si tratta di un' abitudine da lui già acquisita, mi chiedo se con l'espressione '' it's a long time since...'' sia meglio utilizzare il past perfect anzichè il past simple, poichè ho visto in altri thread del forum che molto spesso l'utilizzo con il past simple si riferisce ad un'azione presente e non passata (conclusa). Può darsi che mi sbaglio, proprio per questo chiedo a voi. Sia la parte su cui ho dubbi, sia la traduzione corrispondente da me proposta sono in grassetto per ben distinguere.

It's a long time since *I got used* to putting up with him.

é da molto che *mi sono abituato* a sopportarlo. Da ben intendere che con questa frase il mio studente non vuole riferirsi al fatto che è da molto che è abituato a sopportarlo, ma che è da molto tempo che si è già abituato a fare ciò (azione conclusa). Quindi forse è meglio utilizzare '' *had got used* '' anche se con il past perfect sembra corretto utilizzare It has been a long time ?


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## theartichoke

Hi Rino,

If I understand the question correctly (I think I do), I would translate it as "I got used to putting up with him a long time ago": in other words, the action of getting accustomed to tolerating this guy was accomplished in the past. The speaker still tolerates him, but he learned how to do so a long time ago. 

I would probably shorten it, though, to "I got used to him a long time ago." To my mind, if you "get used to someone" it means there's something you have to tolerate / put up with (an annoying habit, a bad temper, etc.). So it's kind of redundant to say that "you got used to putting up with him."


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## rino delbello

Hi theartichoke

OK, thanks a lot , and from a grammar point of view, if he wants to keep this sentence as ' It's a long time since *I got used* to him ', can he do it or is it better to change *got used* with *had got used* ?


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## rrose17

I agree with arti's choices. They sound more natural. I think if you want to use since it sounds better if you pinpoint a particular time as
_It's been a long time since I first started learning to put up with him. _It's a bit of a mouthful but sounds natural to me.


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## Bongone

_I learnt how to put up with him ages ago._


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## rino delbello

OK, thanks you all a lot


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## Tellure

Scusate se approfitto, ma come tradurre "È una vita che lo sopporto!" detto da una donna, per esempio, in riferimento al proprio marito? Un marito, magari, dal carattere non proprio facilissimo.


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## Bongone

Tellure said:


> Scusate se approfitto, ma come tradurre "È una vita che lo sopporto!" detto da una donna, per esempio, in riferimento al proprio marito? Un marito, magari, dal carattere non proprio facilissimo.



_I’ve been putting up with him forever.
_
Or even: ..._for a lifetime._

And if you specify the particular aspect you have had to put up with you might say: _I’ve had to suffer his ... for years._


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## Tellure

Bongone said:


> _I’ve been putting up with him forever.
> _
> Or even: ..._for a lifetime._
> 
> And if you specify the particular aspect you have had to put up with you might say: _I’ve had to suffer his ... for years._


Ma grazie mille, Bongone!


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## theartichoke

rino delbello said:


> from a grammar point of view, if he wants to keep this sentence as ' It's a long time since *I got used* to him ', can he do it or is it better to change *got used* with *had got used* ?



To clarify the grammar issue: "it's a long time since I got used to him" sounds very odd, but "it's a long time since I had got used to him" is simply wrong.

Strictly speaking, the construction should be "it has been a long time since I [verb in past tense]": e.g., "it's been a long time since I ate a banana / talked to my grandmother / rode a bicycle." But plenty of native speakers will say "it's a long time since I ate a banana." (To use the past perfect, you'd have to put the first part of the sentence in the past perfect as well: "It had been a long time since I had eaten a banana, but when I ate one yesterday, I enjoyed it.")

I'm now puzzling over why "it's a long time since I got used to him" sounds so strange, because it seems that "I got used to..." should be like " I ate..." or "I talked....". And I would even say "it's a long time since I got excited about / got upset about....", so it's not the "got." For a moment I thought you can't use the construction for an action that can only happen _once_ (once you get used to someone, you can't get used to them again), but you can say "it's a long time since she died," so that's not it either!


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## rrose17

theartichoke said:


> I'm now puzzling over why "it's a long time since I got used to him" sounds so strange, because it seems that "I got used to..." should be like " I ate..." or "I talked....".


I believe it's because when you use_ since _you need a more specific point in time to refer to. A lot of Italian (and French) speakers will say "Since young..." or "Since a few years..." for example, which doesn't work. _Since I ate a banana_ is pretty specific_, since I got used to something_ is more vague and probably took place over a longer period of time. Whadya think?


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## rino delbello

OK, so what is the correct way of expressing it?


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## rrose17

theartichoke said:


> "I got used to putting up with him a long time ago"


Or you could break it down to "I've been putting up with him a long time. I've gotten/I've got/I got used to it."



rrose17 said:


> It's been a long time since I first started learning to put up with him


I think arti's in post #2 is best or mine in post #4 if you want to use since. Either don't use since or make the point in the past more precise.


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## rino delbello

OK, thanks again, to understand it better, what happens if the verb 'get used ' refers to noises? Does it keep the same tenses as in your post #4?


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## rrose17

Noises? Like "I've gotten used to his strange noises since he first moved in here."


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## rino delbello

OK, thanks a lot


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## Tellure

rrose17 said:


> Or you could break it down to "I've been putting up with him a long time. I've gotten/I've got/I got used to it."


Esattamente quello che avevo in mente io per aggirare l'ostacolo.


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## rino delbello

Another question rrose17..... according to you, can your last sentence ' I've gotten used to his strange noises since he first moved in her ' be replaced by '' It has been a long time that I got used to his strange noises '' or does the latter have a different meaning ?


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## theartichoke

rrose17 said:


> I believe it's because when you use_ since _you need a more specific point in time to refer to. A lot of Italian (and French) speakers will say "Since young..." or "Since a few years..." for example, which doesn't work. _Since I ate a banana_ is pretty specific_, since I got used to something_ is more vague and probably took place over a longer period of time. Whadya think?



Hmmm. Your theory works for "since a few years [ago]" (because we _could _ say "since yesterday...." or "since December 2003...."), but "since young" is just a construction problem: "it's been a long time since I was young" works fine.  I'm wondering if it's that we don't use "it's been a long time since I [past tense verb]" for an action _the effects of which are continuing into the present. _For such actions, we use only "I [past tense verb] a long time ago."

It's been a long time since I was young. (I was young in the past; at some point, I stopped being young and haven't been young since.)
It's been a long time since I was a vegetarian. (This can only mean "I am not a vegetarian any more," not "I have been a vegetarian for a long time.")
It's been a long time since I started biking to work. (This sounds strange to me, much less natural than "I started biking to work a long time ago.)

This might also explain the difference between "it's been a long time since she died"  and "it's been a long time since she was dead".

But my brain has now reached that point where it's hard to tell strange from natural!


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## rrose17

theartichoke said:


> It's been a long time since I was young. (I was young in the past; at some point, I stopped being young and haven't been young since.)
> It's been a long time since I was a vegetarian. (This can only mean "I am not a vegetarian any more," not "I have been a vegetarian for a long time.")
> It's been a long time since I started biking to work. (This sounds strange to me, much less natural than "I started biking to work a long time ago.)


I think we might be veering off into EO territory...but the way you're using "since I was young" is not the same as trying to say
Since I was young I always brushed my teeth twice a day. I believe this is incorrect. First it would have to be "I've been brushing my teeth" and second the since I was young is too vague. Check this out.


rino delbello said:


> Another question rrose17..... according to you, can your last sentence ' I've gotten used to his strange noises since he first moved in her ' be replaced by '' It has been a long time that I got used to his strange noises '' or does the latter have a different meaning ?


In my opinion, no. It's wrong. You still have to use the present perfect tense. 
_It has been a long time that I've been getting used to his strange noises. _
BUT
_It was a long time ago that I got used to his strange noises._


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## rino delbello

OK, thanks for clearing that, can '' 've been getting used '' be replaced by  '' have got used '' by keeping the same meaning or is the former more correct from a grammar point of view ?


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## sound shift

rrose17 said:


> _It has been a long time that I've been getting used to his strange noises._


This sounds very strange to me, so I can't answer the question below.


rino delbello said:


> OK, thanks for clearing that, can '' 've been getting used '' be replaced by  '' have got used '' by keeping the same meaning or is the former more correct from a grammar point of view ?


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## rino delbello

I understand... so how would you express it?


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## sound shift

rino delbello said:


> I understand... so how would you express it?


It depends on what you want to say. Are you used to his strange noises now, or are you still getting used to them?


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## rino delbello

I am still getting used to them but I would like to know if it is better to express it like this  '' It's a long time since I got used to his noises '', like this '' It has been a long time that I've been getting used to his noises '' or like this '' it has been a long time that have got used to his noises ''. According to you, what is the best between the three options from a correct grammar point of view ?


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## sound shift

"It's a long time since I got used to his noises": Grammatically correct for some BrE speakers, but it means you are used to his noises now; you are not still getting used to them.

"It has been a long time that I have been getting used to his noises": Grammatically incorrect in BrE.

"It has been a long time that I have got used to his noises": Grammatically incorrect in BrE.


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## rrose17

sound shift said:


> "It has been a long time that I have been getting used to his noises": Grammatically incorrect in BrE.


Incorrect in BE? I couldn't say but as you can see here (although it seems to be corroborated by a fellow Canadian ) it is not deemed grammatically incorrect. Check post #6.


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## sound shift

rrose17 said:


> Incorrect in BE? I couldn't say but as you can see here (although it seems to be corroborated by a fellow Canadian ) it is not deemed grammatically incorrect. Check post #6.


OK. It's unidiomatic, though (in BrE).


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## rrose17

I think using "since" rather than "that" is more idiomatic. If you think of the expression "It's been a long time..." that you might say to someone whom you haven't seen in ages, the rest of the sentence, that is understood, would be "...since/that we haven't seen each other" as well as "...that we last saw each other."


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## rino delbello

OK, sound shift, if you want to mean that you have already been got used to them, how would you express it in BrE?


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## sound shift

I'd say, for example, "I'm used to his noises now."


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## rino delbello

No, I mean that I got used to them a long time ago but I would like to use the structure ' it has been a long time since I.....'


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## rino delbello

I am sorry but I have to disagree on that... between is also used for three elements and you can say ' from a grammar point of view '.....anyway thank for you point of view , I will be waiting for other ideas


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## sound shift

rino delbello said:


> No, I mean that I got used to them a long time ago but I would like to use the structure ' it has been a long time since I.....'


Well, OK, if you really want to use that structure you could say "It's been a long time now since I got used to his noises", but it doesn't sound all that good to me. I think you are too attached to a direct translation of "è da molto" and the placing of that translation at the start of the sentence; in practice we are much more likely to say "I got used to his noises a long time ago/long ago".


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## rino delbello

Ok..but the meaning of the sentence does not require to use it takes.....the sentence is a simple assertation



> Azione di moderazione: ovviamente sei liberissimo di considerare o meno i suggerimenti che i madrelingua ti hanno dato, non solo sull'OP, ma anche su tutte le variazioni che hai voluto introdurre, ma questo non giustifica che sia tu a spiegare a un madrelingua l'uso della sua lingua e, soprattutto, i toni dei tuoi post successivi.


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