Present Perfect Continuous, Part 1 of 2
How to say «llevo una hora esperando» in English: have/has been + -ing, and the difference between for and since.
«Llevo una hora esperando»
Spanish has many ways to talk about an action that started in the past and is still happening now: «llevo una hora esperando», «hace una hora que espero», «estoy esperando desde hace una hora». English uses one tense for all of them: the present perfect continuous, "I've been waiting for an hour".
Spanish speakers often translate word for word and say *I am waiting since an hour or *I wait here since 2020. Both are wrong. When you say how long something has been happening, English needs "have been" + -ing, not the present.
Think of it like this: the action started in the past, it continues up to now, and it will probably go on. The sentence looks back from now.
Comprobación rápida
1. Translate into English.
2. Which sentence is correct?
The form: have/has + been + -ing
The structure is subject + "have" or "has" + "been" + verb-ing. Use "has" with "he", "she" and "it", and "have" with everyone else: "I have been working", "she has been working".
In speech we almost always contract: "I've", "you've", "we've", "they've", "he's", "she's", "it's". Careful: here "he's" means "he has", not "he is". "He's been working" = "He has been working".
"Been" never changes, and the main verb always takes -ing. Don't forget either part: *She has working and *She has been work are both wrong.
Comprobación rápida
1. Write the bold words in English.
2. In "She's been reading all morning", what does "she's" mean?
For or since?
Use "for" with a period of time, the length: "for two hours", "for ten years", "for a long time". It answers the question "how long?".
Use "since" with a starting point, the moment it began: "since 2020", "since Monday", "since nine o'clock", "since I was a child". It answers the question "since when?".
A quick test with Spanish: «desde hace» is "for" and «desde» is "since". So «desde hace dos años» is "for two years", never *since two years.
Comprobación rápida
1. Write the bold words in English.
2. Match each English phrase with its meaning.
Three Spanish sentences, one English sentence
These three Spanish sentences mean the same thing: «llevo dos años estudiando inglés», «hace dos años que estudio inglés» and «estudio inglés desde hace dos años». In English they are all "I've been studying English for two years".
Notice that Spanish uses the present («estudio») and English does not. If the sentence says how long, English looks back from now with "have been".
With "live", "work" and "study", the present perfect simple is also correct and means the same: "I've lived here for two years". You will learn more about this choice later in the unit.
Comprobación rápida
1. Translate into English.
Inténtalo tú
Escribe una o dos frases en inglés con lo que has aprendido en esta lección. No se corrige: es solo para ti y se guarda para que puedas volver a verlo.
Repaso final
0/17 respondidas en esta lección
1. Translate into English.
2. Translate into English.
3. Write the bold words in English.
4. Write the bold words in English.
5. Translate into English.
6. Choose the correct translation of «Carlos lleva tres horas cocinando».
7. Put the words in order.
Pista: “Emma vive en Londres desde 2021.”
8. Translate into English.
9. What did you hear?
10. Escucha y grábate diciéndolo.
I've been waiting for an hour.
Consejo: Join the words: "I've-been-waiting". "Been" is short, like "bin", and "for" is a quick "fer".