Since and For in Turkish: -den beri, -dir

Both say how long something has been going on up to now, and the verb stays in the present continuous: Altı aydır Türkçe öğreniyorum (I have been learning Turkish for six months).

A starting point takes -den beri: sabahtan beri (since the morning), pazartesiden beri (since Monday), 2020’den beri (since 2020).

A length of time takes -dir, or -den beri, with no difference in meaning: iki saattir = iki saatten beri (for two hours). -dir follows four-way harmony and hardens to -tir after a hard consonant: üç gündür, iki yıldır, beş saattir.