Present perfect with for and since

“I’ve lived here for three years” and “I’ve lived here since 2023” both describe a period that reaches the present. The words measure that period differently.

Duration or starting point?

Use for with a length of time: for two hours, for six months, for a long time.

Use since with the point when the period began: since Monday, since 2023, since I moved here.

• Nina has worked here for five years.
• Nina has worked here since 2021.

Both sentences tell us she still works here. The first answers How long? with a duration; the second answers Since when? with a starting point.

Draw the period before choosing the word

Imagine moving to a town in September 2023. In September 2026, you still live there:

September 2023 — move → three years living here → September 2026 — now

You can describe the same period in two ways:

I've lived here since September 2023. — name the beginning
I've lived here for three years. — measure the length

A date answers When did it begin? A duration answers How long has it lasted? That is the essential difference.

Since I was a child gives the starting period. For my childhood does not express the same meaning and is not a natural replacement.

Ask the right question

How long have you known Eva? invites either answer: For six years or Since secondary school. You do not need to repeat the whole sentence in a short conversational reply.

Compare When did you meet Eva? This asks about the first meeting as a finished event, so the past simple is appropriate: We met in 2020. Knowing each other is the continuing state; meeting is the starting event.

Build the sentence

For an action or state that began in the past and continues now, use have/has + past participle:

subject + have/has + past participle + for/since + time

• We’ve known each other for years.
• He’s had this phone since January.
• How long have you lived in this town?

With since + clause, the starting event commonly uses the past simple: I’ve felt better since I changed my routine.

Compare with a finished period

• I’ve lived in Bristol for three years. I still live there.
• I lived in Bristol for three years. I am talking about a finished period; I may live somewhere else now.

The phrase for three years does not automatically require the present perfect. The time relationship decides the tense.

Duration can describe an activity or a state

I've worked here for a year and I've been working here for a year can both describe continuing work. The continuous version places more emphasis on the activity. With state verbs such as know and own, use the simple form: I've known her for a year, not I've been knowing her.

A negative can also describe a period up to now:

I haven't seen my cousin since January.
We haven't had a holiday for two years.

Here the period measures the absence of an event. It does not mean seeing or having a holiday has continued throughout that period.

The tense shows whether the period is finished

I worked at the café for six months describes a completed period of work. I've worked at the café for six months normally describes work continuing now. For works in both; it does not choose the tense.

You can also use for for a planned future duration: I'll stay for a week. Since in its time meaning looks backwards to a beginning, so it does not normally describe a future stay in that way.

A common first-language transfer is I live here since 2023. English usually needs the present perfect for this continuing period: I've lived here since 2023. Choose have/has, use the participle, then add the correct time phrase.

Try explaining a friendship in three connected sentences: We met at university in 2021. We've known each other since then. We've been friends for five years. The first gives the event; the next two describe the period reaching now.

Sources and further reading

• British Council LearnEnglish: Present perfect simple and continuous