Clarification on the progressive tense

[ducviloxi]

I want to say:

I have been searching for 2nd street but I can't find it

he estado buscando el calle segundo pero no puedo encontrarlo

or

llevo buscando el calle segundo pero no puedo encontrarlo

I was told the 2nd form (llevar + continuous) can only be used when specifying a time period, correct?

if so, would this be correct?

llevo buscando el calle segundo desde hace veinte minutos pero no puedo encontrarlo

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I want to say:

I have been searching for 2nd street but I can't find it

he estado buscando el calle segundo (Check your gender agreement) pero no puedo encontrarlo (Gender agreement again.) :good:

or

llevo buscando el calle segundo pero no puedo encontrarlo :bad:

I was told the 2nd form (llevar + continuous) can only be used when specifying a time period, correct? Correct.

if so, would this be correct?

llevo veinte minutos buscando el calle segundo desde hace veinte minutos pero no puedo encontrarlo


(At least for a Mexican) it's unusual to hear ordinal numbers in street names, so we'd rather say "calle dos".
Some more alternatives:

- Estoy buscando la Calle 2 (Capital letter because it's the proper name of the street), pero no la encuentro.
- He estado buscando la Calle 2, pero aún no he podido encontrarla.

[Rusty]

I have been searching for 2nd street but I can't find it.

He estado buscando la calle Segunda pero no puedo encontrarla.


or

Llevo buscando la calle Segunda pero no puedo encontrarla.

I was told the 2nd form (llevar + continuous) can only be used when specifying a time period, correct?

If so, would this be correct?

Llevo buscando la calle Segunda desde hace veinte minutos pero no puedo encontrarla.
What you're calling things has me a bit worried. ;)

You correctly used the present perfect continuous/progressive verb form in the first sentence. This is built using a conjugated form of the verb 'estar', followed by a gerundio (called the present participle in English).

As far as your second question, using a conjugated form of 'llevar' and a gerundio somewhere near it is also correct usage, so long as a time period is provided.
The gerundio, in this case, is acting as an adverb (just as the English present participle can act as an adverb).


If the official name of the street is Second Street, the word 'Calle' must begin with a capital letter. It's more common to not have the word 'calle' as an official part of the name of a street, so that's why I left it in all lowercase letters.
:)

[ducviloxi]

thanks again both of you!