Five-minute Spanish Lessons - Lesson 19.

Prepositions (7)

Spanish "desde", "de" and English translations eg. "since", "for", "from" compared.

Desde / since, for.

Desde means "since" but desde hace means "for". In questions it can be combined with other words to mean "how long?". See these examples below:

Since then he's got a new job.

Desde entonces tiene un nuevo empleo.

How long have you been here?

¿Desde hace cuánto tiempo estás aquí?

He has always been strange since he was a child.

Desde niño siempre ha sido raro.

How long have you been a Catholic?

¿Desde cuándo eres católico?

I've always been a Catholic!

¡Desde siempre!

I've lived here for fifteen years.

Vivo aquí desde hace quince años.

Note the subjunctive is possible after "desde que + verb" even though it refers to completed events in the past. The indicative is also posible. We can't use de here either:

Desde que llegara a este pueblo. (subjunctive)

or

Desde que llegó a este pueblo. (indicative)

Since he arrived in this town.

Desde / de, from.

Spanish prefers desde in these situations and in English from:

You can see all the city from here.

Se puede ver toda la ciudad desde aquí.

On the telephone.

I'm calling from Spain.

Llamo desde España.

From my point of view.

Desde mi punto de vista.

Lunch is from two till three thirty.

El almuerzo se sirve desde las dos hasta las tres y media.

So what is the difference between de and desde when it means from? In general, the Spanish use desde when the idea of distance or travelling to a place is stressed (see some of above examples) and:

Today we walked from the cathedral to the station. What a walk!

Hoy anduvimos desde la catedral hasta la estación. ¡Qué paliza!

From the summit we could appreciate the enormous extent of the plains.

Desde la cima pudimos apreciar la gran extensión de las llanuras.

De should be used for from if the preposition is less emphatic. However, even the Spanish may not always respect these rules.

I'm from Ireland.

Soy de Irlanda.

I took it / from / out of / my bag.

Lo saqué de mi bolsillo.

Every year the leaves fall / from / off / the trees.

Todos los años las hojas caen de los árboles.

They make statues / from / out of / ice.

Tallan estatuas del hielo.

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