Typical German speaker mistakes in English (49)

I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.

They say:  I have a new boss.  She is in the department since the beginning of September.

Since is the keyword in this sentence and tells us which tense we need:  Present perfect tense and not present tense (as in the example above.)

Correction:  I have a new boss.  She has been in the department since the beginning of September.

As an alternative we can remove the word ‘since’ and use the past simple tense.

Alternatively: I have a new boss.  She started in the department at the beginning of September.

Have fun learning English!

Louise