Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldman
1) How long ago did you study medicine? 
"Did study" means studying has stopped.
2) How long ago did you not study medicine?
I would change this to "How long have you not studied medicine?" for simplicity's sake. This means studying medicine never happened in the past. This cannot be construed to mean "How long ago did you start ..." or "How long have you been studying ...."
3) How long have you been studying medicine?
4) How long have you not been studying medicine (your wording) or (my wording) How long has it been since you studied medicine? |
Each question is valid and unique (none means the same thing as the other in Spanish (and shouldn't in English).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldman
(Perhaps the negation of the past tense is the present tense, and the negation of the present tense is the past tense? Dare I go that far?!!!!)
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No, the preterit tense is used when an action had a start and an end in the past or when it didn't have a start and an end in the past.
Perhaps it's the English equivalent of "how long" that is confusing you.
You'll find other constructions with
hace (literally, "it makes") that also pass through hoops to get the right English translation, such as:
Hace mucho que te veo. = I've seen you for a long time.
Hace mucho que no te veo. = I haven't seen you in a long time.
Hace mucho que te vi. = I saw you a long time ago.
Hace mucho que no te vi. = It's been a long time since I saw you (last).
Present tense
ver with a time factor (
hace mucho) means "has seen" plus the time factor. (It is English that forces us to use the present perfect tense where Spanish uses the present tense. "It makes a lot that I
see you.")
Preterit tense
ver with a time factor (
hace mucho) means "saw" plus the time factor. (Using the past tense verb "saw" makes it much simpler to understand. The time factor is still present. "It makes a lot that I
saw you.)
(However, there are those who insist that the present perfect tense (have seen) should be used in my last example, making the translation "It's been a long time since I've seen you." You can choose either translation.)