Asking Questions using Hacer Time Expression in Past - 2 past events

Question

I have reviewed the informative posts on this glorious website about answering "how long one has been doing_____", but I haven"t found much about Formation of questions using Hacer Time Expressions

For example, can anyone tell me if this is correct?:

How many years had you been feeling sad before you went to see a therapist for the first time?

Mi intento: Cuánto años hacía que te sentías triste antes fuiste para ver terapeauta?

Mil gracias de antemano

good thread, having made a mess today of saying how long my sister has lived in Spain I am revising this topic. - MaryMcc, Nov 16, 2011

Answer 1

Good question River

You can say either:

¿Hace cuánto tiempo que…?

or

¿Cuánto tiempo hace que…?

and then generally you follow that with a conjugated verb in either the present or past tense.

Generally, if the following verb is in the present tense, the question means, “(For) how long have…?

but

If the verb is in the past tense, the question means, “How long ago did…?”

Eg:

¿Hace cuánto tiempo que estudias? How long have you been studying?

but

¿Hace cuánto tiempo que estudiaste? How long ago did you study?

and the answer usually goes like this:

hace + time period + que + action

Hace tres días que estudio. ¡Ya me canso!

• I’ve been studying for three days. I’m getting tired of it!

or

Hace un año que estudié.

• It’s been a year since I studied.

Answer 2

So can you use the last example with the pp so that the pp applies to you instead of the direct object? Do you have any more examples of that format?

Like llevo trabajado dos horas - I've worked for two hours. or does that not work? and if it does would I have to say trabajada being a girl? - Kiwi_Girl 20 mins ago flag

Kiwi Girl, would you stop thinking! The first expression, llevo vivendo aquí un año, is quite familiar to me and I use it all the time, but that's not your question.

Regarding the use of llevar + pp, it appears that llevar is a stand in for haber. For instance, here are two examples from the SD dictionary:

•llevo leída media novela -> I'm halfway through the novel

•llevo dicho esto mismo docenas de veces -> I've said the same thing time and again

So the answer to the second half of your question is no, the pp doesn't agree with the subject. This only happens when the pp root is used to form an adjective in the passive voice, for instance, La mesa fue pintada de amarillo.

Or so I think.

And it seems fine to me to say Llevo trabajado dos horas... It is certainly comprehensible; I see no reason why it would be wrong. But we're all (at least you and me) non-native speakers here!

lol thanx Jere :) - Kiwi-Girl, Nov 16, 2011

Answer 3

In addition to Kiwi's gloriously thorough post, there are some other common expressions for time .

Llevar + gerundio, to have been doing something (time):

Llevo leyendo dos horas, I have been reading for two hours.

Llevar + pp, To have done something:

Llevo dos libros leídos, I have read two books.

lol thanx Jere :) - those are great expressions that I still haven't got the hang of properly in everyday use, I must practice with them. Gracias por añadirlos! - Kiwi-Girl, Nov 16, 2011

so can you use the last example with the pp so that the pp applies to you instead of the direct object? Do you have any more examples of that format? - Kiwi-Girl, Nov 16, 2011

- like llevo trabajado dos horas - I've worked for two hours. or does that not work? and if it does would I have to say trabajada being a girl? - Kiwi-Girl, Nov 16, 2011

Answer 4

This document may help you with using the imperfect past with time expressions. (hacía que..llevaba....)

1. Una acción que comenzó en el pasado y continuó sobre un tiempo hasta un punto en que otra acción tomó lugar

And in your original question, if the questions had been worded as For how long...etc. rather than just How long...? you probably would have been able to find more answers with Hace + time expressions. Many of the hace+time expressions translate using for (por) such and such a time period.

Answer 5

How many years had you been feeling sad before you went to see a therapist for the first time?

Sorry about that!

Remember I'm not a native speaker, but I wouldn't use the hacer + time construction to say this. I would say,

¿Durante (or por) cuantos años se sentía (or te sentías) triste antes de que encontrara a un terapeuta por primera vez?

If you said

¿Hace cuantos años desde que encontrara a un terapeuta por primera vez... you'd be a bit stuck. You would have just said, "How many years ago did you see a therapist for the first time... but then you can't logically get back to the primary question, which was "For how long were you feeling sad (before you sought help?)"

Answer 6

¡Mil gracias a ustedes dos por sus respuestas! Me ayudan mucho clarificar unos aspectos de las expressions del tiempo con "hacer." However, I am still a little confused because although your answers were awesome, I'm confused on how to apply that information to the past tense.

The question I asked has (I think) 2 'events' (so to speak) that occurred in a "Past Time Frame" (kind of/maybe). How many years had you been feeling sad before you went to see a therapist for the first time?

1) You had been feeling sad. (Past because it is not saying "have", which would imply the feeling of being sad is continuing into the Present???)&2) You went to see a therapist for the first time (Past because you can only do something for the 1st time once & therefore it's a single completed action aka the preterite tense??)

I am by no means an expert, but in thought that if the whole question was framed in the Past, that meant that one should use "hacía + que+ verb in the imperfect" because that would be used to differentiate between 2 Past events- (1 Past event in the remote / farther away past & 1 event in the more recent Past) ¿Hay alguien que me pueda ayudar a entender este concepto? O estoy totalmente equivocada?