desde hace, hace que, llevar

¿Cuánto tiempo llevas estudiando español?

In this lesson you’ll learn three very typical Spanish ways of how to say, that an action has been lasting for a determined period of time.

First, try to say this phrase in Spanish yourself:

I’ve lived in Barcelona for five years

If you translate it literally to Yo he vivido en Barcelona por cinco años, it will be wrong.

There are three options of how to express this meaning, but none of them requires Pretérito Perfecto. This sentence needs just Presente, but the duration is shown by means of different combinations.

1. desde hace + período

desde hace un año – for one year

Vivo en Barcelona desde hace cinco años – I’ve lived in Barcelona for five years

Desde hace cinco años literally means since five years ago.

Estudio español desde hace siete meses – I’ve been learning Spanish for seven months

Mi papá trabaja en esa empresa desde hace cuatro años – My dad has been working for this company for four years

Try it yourself:

We’ve been working here for nine months

Pablo has been playing the guitar for ten years

I’ve known you for a long time

Questions

Questions to these sentences begin with ¿Desde cuándo?, which literally means since when?

Estudio alemán desde hace tres años – I’ve been learning German for three years

¿Desde cuándo estudias alemán? – How long have you been learning German?

Estamos de vacaciones desde hace una semana – We’ve been on a vacation for a week

¿Desde cuándo estáis de vacaciones? – How long have you been on a vacation?

Try it yourself:

How long have you lived in Barcelona?

How long have your parents known each other?

How long have you been vegetarian?

2. hace + período + que

hace un año que – for one year

hace … que is like desde hace. It simply has a different word order.

Hace cinco años que vivo en Barcelona – I’ve lived in Barcelona for five years

Taken apart, this sentence looks like Five years ago that I live in Barcelona. Sometimes it can be translated to English as It’s been + period + since.

Hace tres días que pienso sólo en ti – I’ve been thinking only about you for the last three days

Hace una semana que está lloviendo – It’s been raining for a week

Hace unos meses que no me llamas – It’s been several months, since you called me

Try it yourself:

I’ve been on a diet for a month

We haven’t been talking for two days

My son has been going to school for four years

Questions

For questions use ¿Hace cuánto tiempo que … ? Tiempo can be replaced by any period.

Hace cinco años que vivo en Barcelona – I’ve lived in Barcelona for five years

¿Hace cuánto tiempo que vives en Barcelona? – How long have you lived in Barcelona?

Hace dos horas que te estoy esperando – I’ve been waiting for you for two hours

¿Hace cuántas horas que me estás esperando? – How many hours have you been waiting for me?

Try it yourself:

How many days have you been in Portugal?

How many years have they been married?

How long have you been renting this flat? (vosotros)

3. llevar + período + gerundio

Llevo cinco años viviendo en Barcelona – I’ve lived in Barcelona for five years

This one can be literally translated as I spend five years living in Barcelona. The llevar + gerundio construction is one of the verbal periphrasis, that we talked about in the section 7 lesson 3.

Richard lleva un año construyendo la casa – Richard has been building the house for a year

Llevo más de una hora esperándote – I’ve been waiting for you for more than an hour

Ana lleva cinco minutos intentando llamar a José – Ana has been trying to call Jose for five minutes

Try it yourself:

My dad has been working for this company for six years

We’ve been learning Spanish for seven months

I’ve been looking for my phone for twenty minutes

Questions

This is how questions to this type of sentences are built.

¿Cuánto tiempo llevas estudiando español? – How long have you been learning Spanish?

¿Cuántos años lleva tu papá trabajando en esa empresa? – How many years has your dad working for that company?

Try it yourself:

Ana lleva una hora preparando la cena – ¿ … ?

El traductor lleva cinco meses traduciendo el libro – ¿ … ?

Mis vecinos llevan toda la noche cantando – ¿ … ?

Negative sentences

Negative forms of sentences with llevar are built differently. Instead of gerund you should use sin + infinitive.

Llevo tres meses sin estudiar español – I haven’t been learning Spanish for three months

Literally, I spend three months without learning Spanish

Marta lleva un año sin tener noticias de su padre – Marta hasn’t had news from her father for a year

¿Cuántos años llevan ustedes sin comer carne? – How long haven’t you eaten meat?

Don’t say: Llevo tres meses no estudiando español

Try it yourself:

I haven’t seen my passport for two weeks

My parents haven’t come here for five years

How long haven’t you been talking to Enrique?

By the way, the verb estar doesn’t sound good in gerund. It’s omitted with llevar.

Don’t say: Llevo tres meses estando aquí

Say: Llevo tres meses aquí – I’ve been here for three months

And the question looks like this:

¿Cuánto tiempo llevas aquí? – How much time have you been here?

All three constructions are equally very common in the everyday Spanish speech. Let them be active in your speech, too.