An attempt at past time statements. Please correct my Spanish.

Question

1. Ayer hablé con María cuando me topé con ella en el parque. No la había visto en más de dos años.

2. Ayer hablé con María cuando me topé con ella en el parque. No la había visto desde hacía más de dos años.

3. Ayer hablé con María cuando me topé con ella en el parque. Hacía más de dos años que no la veía.

4. Ayer hablé con María cuando me topé con ella en el parque. No la veía desde hacía dos años.

Yesterday I talked with Maria when I bumped into her in the park. I had not seen her in more than two years.

Which ones are correct if any? Which is the most common? Is there any even better way to say it? Thanks. - DilKen, Apr 11, 2017

A helpful and interesting question - Elsarendelleonorbon, Apr 11, 2017

Answer 1

Dear Kenhuizenga

I dare not to give you a full correction, but I would like to show you my opinion as possible.

First of all, the English sentence should be corrected as "... not seen her for more than two years"

And now, in Spanish, to talk about something that was happening when something else occurred, we use imperfect tense.

To say "more than two years", it should be "más de dos años".

And to say "ago", we would use "hacer".

Therefore, I would translate your second sentence as

Hacía más de dos años que no la veía.

or

No la veía desde hacía más de dos años.

Both are acceptable

Finally, the following article may give you more helpful information http://www.elearnspanishlanguage.com/grammar/verb/hacer2.html

Thanks. So according to your recommendations my 3 & 4 were correct. Good to know. Thanks again. - DilKen, Apr 11, 2017

I think using in instead of for is very common an correct in English. Here's an example from the SD dictionary. I haven't seen her in years hace años que no la veo - DilKen, Apr 11, 2017

Alright! I may need to agree :) The difference between "for years" and "in years" has been discussed in this thread. "In years" for negative statements https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/for-years-in-years.3303756/ - Elsarendelleonorbon, Apr 11, 2017

That makes a lot of sense. One would never say I have been with her in two weeks, but the negative version could use in or for - DilKen, Apr 11, 2017

A positive situation where in would be correct and not for: I have seen her three times in the last two weeks. "during" could be used but not for :) - DilKen, Apr 11, 2017

Thank you for this helpful explanation :) - Elsarendelleonorbon, Apr 11, 2017

De nada. By the way, from your profile it appears you are new here. Or were you here before under a different name? Anyway, I think you will be a fantastic member:) - DilKen, Apr 11, 2017

Thanks for asking me. I love your "fantastic" words. I had spent a lot of time reading the reference articles & looking up the dictionaries on SpanishDict & Wordreference before deciding to create an official account here today - Elsarendelleonorbon, Apr 11, 2017

Answer 2

Para mí, las cuatro oraciones son correctas.

@Ken: I don't think so.

Durante denota simultaneidad:

Viví en París durante el invierno.

Por no es apropiado en este caso.

Podría usarse en el ejemplo siguiente:

La vi por Navidad

Thanks Luis. I think I read somewhere that "en" instead of "por" or "durante" is mostly used in Mexican Spanish due to the U.S. influence. What do you think? - DilKen, Apr 11, 2017