Since I've been working...

Question

It's a sentence in a comic book.

A mother, looking all stressed out and gazing at her cluttered house, says...

"Since I've been working, it's hard to keep the house clean."

I'm really curious about the "since I've been working..." part. What's the various natural ways to express this?

My attempts (after looking up "since" in a dictionary)...

Desde que trabajaba...

Desde que empecé a trabajar...

.

Also, are desde que and después de que equivalent?

...Comics again... :P - Destroyed99, Aug 18, 2011

Answer 1

Desde que trabajaba...

The starting point of the action is meant to be implicit or unknown.

Desde que empecé a trabajar...

Good option.

Also, are desde que and después de que equivalent?

"Desde que" means "since" and "después de" means "after". I can't see how they can't be mixed up.

Thank you. How about "ya que trabajo..." (now that I work...)? - webdunce, Aug 18, 2011

Answer 2

I think we would most naturally use the present simple here:

Desde que trabajo no tengo tiempo para nada.

Chileno has used this option too.

Thank you for your answer, Heidita. I really appreciate it. :) - webdunce, Aug 19, 2011

Answer 3

Since I've been working, it's hard to keep the house clean. - Desde que he estado trabajando/desde que trabajo, es difícil mantener limpia la casa.

Desde que trabajaba... = since it worked...

Desde que empecé a trabajar...= since I started to work...

.

Entonces desde que empiezo a trabajar es igual que desde que empece a trabajar es igual que Desde que he estado trabajando? Que tal desde que he trabajado? - jeezzle, Aug 18, 2011

Thanks, chileno. :) - webdunce, Aug 19, 2011

Answer 4

Desde que he estado trabajando...... is this right?

Based on my current experience with Spanish, I feel this would be a rather English-way of saying it, but I could be wrong. - webdunce, Aug 18, 2011

I think it's fine however if using past parfect I usually eat the estado and go with he trabajado, it does change the meaning sltightly but we usually mean it that way anyway, but your way is not wrong. - jeezzle, Aug 18, 2011

Well, looky there. Chileno says you're right. - webdunce, Aug 19, 2011

Thanks, guys - SpanishPal, Aug 19, 2011

not in spain, pal, sounds really weird - 00494d19, Aug 19, 2011

Answer 5

The starting point of the action is meant to be implicit or unknown.

Can you elaborate on this? I suddenly realize that I find "desde que trabajaba" I bit odd because it seems like "since I was working" and not "since I have been working" or "ever since i have been working" - example "ya que trabajaba como chofer, gané mucho dinero." Since I was working as a chauffeur, I earned a lot of money.

I meant to write trabajaba, by the way. - webdunce, Aug 18, 2011

Me too - jeezzle, Aug 18, 2011

I suppose one feels like one already has because of the preceding aba pattern in the word. :) - webdunce, Aug 18, 2011

Yeah that's weird when I saw you write that I was like what the......... ;) - jeezzle, Aug 18, 2011

Answer 6

Ya que is since in that sense. Ya que he trabajado, unless you mean "ever since" like with a time period. Desde que he trabajado / Desde el momento que empecé a trabajar.

I put "el momento" because as far as I know, ever doesn't translate. (although it is the difference between ya que and desde que here , because VS ever since)

I also put "he trabajado" because I "implied" the been, I know sometimes you can and sometimes you have to say "he estado trabajando" but I'm not sure the rhyme or reason, so I usually eat the estado / ando and go with he - ado thing, as long as it means the same thing - been working / have worked - to me it does here but some people would say it doesn't.

Despues de que should mean "after" unless there's an idiom that's not coming to me.

To me aba means was in that sense. I originally wrote that it makes sense to me your way but I no longer think so for what you want to say.More than one way to skin a cat though.. Desde que empecé a trabajar sounds perfect though as long as you mean "Ever since" and Ya que if you mean "Because" and yes, I think "ya que trabajo" works good too.

I'm not sure, but for ya que, I want it to be ya que trabajo...as in since [now that] I work or even ya que he empezado a trabajar...as in now that I have started working. - webdunce, Aug 18, 2011

Sure that should work, just spoke to my mom too, she said she would say "desde que empiezo a trabajar" and she is fluent, but of course it matters if you mean "because of" (ya que) or "ever since" (desde que) Gracias amigo. - jeezzle, Aug 18, 2011

I think me misheard me though because she was on speaker, I think "desde que empiezo a trabajar" means, like "desde que empiezo hasta que termino" eh, who knows. - jeezzle, Aug 18, 2011

Although Chileno seems to indicated that "Desde que empiezo a trabajar" means since I started working, since he seems ot say that desde que trabajo means since I started working. Why is that? alguien me explica? - jeezzle, Aug 18, 2011

Answer 7

oops!

It was still an interesting article, lorenzo. - webdunce, Aug 19, 2011

Answer 8

Since I've been working...

Desde que he estado trabajando ...