¿Cómo se dice en español “Howlongfor”?
There are a few ways of saying this in Spanish!
1) If you have been doing something for a period of time and are still doing it, you need to use the present tense and one of these constructions.
-DESDE HACE
a) Action in present tense + desdehace + time
______
-HACE ... QUE
b) Hace + time + que + action in present tense
______
-LLEVAR + GERUND
c) Llevar in present tense + time + action in gerund
______
In the negative you have to use:
Llevar in present tense + sin + infinitive
______
- You can also use llevar without the gerund to say you have been somewhere for a certain time.
______
2) If you had been doing something and were still doing it at the point of reference, then put the verbs in the imperfect.
______
______
______
- DURANTE
Use when you talk about something which happened in the past, which is now complete:
______
______
-POR/PARA/ ornothing??
- With estar or vivir, you can use nothing:
______
______
- When referring to time in the future, use either POR or PARA:
______
- Remember PARA with time can also mean deadline:
______
OTHER TIME PHRASES
-AGO
Use hace/hacía:
______I saw him two hours ago
______ I had seen him two hours (before then)
-IN a certain number ofDAYS
a) DENTRO DE
When referring to the future or the future in the past
______He’s going to arrive in two minutes
______He told me he’d be there in two hours
b) EN
Whenreferringtothepast
______ I did it in a year
-AGAIN
a) VOLVER A + INFINITIVE
Thisisverycommonbefore a verb
______
______
b) OTRA VEZ
______
______
c) DE NUEVO
More literarythanotra vez
______
-STILL
a) CONTINUAR / SEGUIR + GERUND
______
______
______
b) SEGUIR + PAST PARTICIPLE / ADJECTIVE
______
-TO HAVE JUST
a) PRESENT TENSE ACABAR DE have just
______
b) IMPERFECT TENSE ACABAR DE hadjust
______
¡ A PRACTICAR!
Usando una variedad de frases anteriores, ¿cómo traducirías las siguientes frases?
A) (desde hace / llevar / hace que)
1. I’ve been learning Spanish for seven months
2. We’ve been friends for five years
3. I haven’t seen my brother for sixteen years
4. I had been waiting for five hours when you arrived at last
5. We had been learning Spanish for six years when we went to Spain for the first time
6. I hadn’t smoked for three years when I started again
7. We’ve been married for two months
8. They haven’t been out for weeks
9. There has been a boat in the North Cloisters for years
10. They had been outside for two hours when we noticed their absence
B) (por/para/durante/nothing)
1. Wait here for ten minutes and then call the police
2. I was a teacher at that school for ten years
3. We lived for two years in Barcelona
4. My aunt is going to stay for six weeks with me in the summer
5. For many years, I thought he was a Mexican
6. Would you like to sit down for a few minutes?
C) (seguir/continuar + gerund, seguir + adjective/participle)
1. It’s still a difficult problem for many old people
2. We’re still tired, after sleeping ten hours
3. He is still as stupid as ever
4. Tolerance is still a very important virtue nowadays
5. He still wears that ridiculous jacket he bought in Camden market
D) (en, dentro de)
1. El tren sale ………… unos minutos
2. No he visto una tormenta así ………… más de veinte años
3. ………… un rato se explicará
4. ………… mi vida he oído nada tan absurdo
5. ………… dos minutos estoy contigo