That's two times now that she bought me lunch

Question

I was thinking two ways to say this, but I don't know how right or wrong they are.

• Dos veces ya han pasado que me compró el almuerzo.
• Ya llevan dos veces que me compró el almuerzo.

Are they both right? Gracias.

Answer 1

Ya van dos veces que me compra el almuerzo

o

Ya es la segunda vez que me compra el almuerzo

Tus oraciones se entienden pero no están del todo correctas. Un nativo no lo diría así

Answer 2

So just to clarify, if the event happened early in the day, like I am telling the person at 5 that she bought me lunch at noon today and yesterday, I still use the present tense and not preterite? Also, the second sentence with llevan was from a native mexican speaker who was correcting my first attempt, which is the first, is it possible that it's a more Mexican way of talking or was she just wrong?. I understand both of yours but I wonder why IR without gerund. Just "The second time goes now that she buys me lunch"? I don't get van, seems like IR can be just substituted anywhere. Does llevar not work at all? Gracias.

So "ya van........" or "ya va......." can always be used as "it's now (been)......)" kind of like "llevo"? Gracias.

Not in Argentina Jeezz, maybe it's a Mexican expression... I don't know... it sounds awful to me :) - Benz, Sep 16, 2010

So what about present, always use present and never past with an expression like this? Gracias. What about van why use van there? What about llevar does that work? Gracias. I ask because I really want to know. ;) Te aprecio. - jeezzle, Sep 16, 2010

I agree completely with Benz's post , that's how I's day. Van is a way of counting. - Gekkosan, Sep 17, 2010