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Present Perfect Progressive Tense

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fglorca
November 22, 2015, 03:21 AM
Are all four sentences below correct? I’m not convinced by the second one.

I have been studying Spanish for six years:

• Llevo seis años estudiando español.
• He aprendido español por seis años.
• Hace seis años que estudio español.
• Estudio español desde hace seis años.

Many thanks in advance.

aleCcowaN
November 22, 2015, 04:08 AM
1 and 3

change 2 to "he estado aprendiendo español durante seis años"

4 is a badly shaped informal one, as "desde" implies a starting date, not a lapse.

wrholt
November 22, 2015, 07:28 AM
Following up on aleC's comment on 2:

a. "He aprendido español por seis años" = I have studied Spanish for (a total of) 6 years. (The studying may have been broken up into two or more periods of time separated by periods of not studying, and I may or may not still be studying.)

b. "He estado aprendiendo español por seis años" = I have been studying Spanish for 6 years (to date). (I started studying 6 years ago, I have not stopped yet, and I'm still studying now.)

Sentence (a) is less precise than sentence (b), although depending on context and intent the two sentences can have the same meaning.

fglorca
November 22, 2015, 01:26 PM
Many thanks, guys.