estar/aprender

Question

Hola,

Tengo una pregunta:

Si quiero decir:
I have been learning

puedo decir:
He estado aprender

Gracias,
Martyn.

Answer 1

Absolutely right: that structure is a fairly common alternative (not as much as "llevo..."), but it is definitely the favourite one for negative sentences.

Answer 2

I think another way to say this is "Hace un año que estudio español."

Am I correct in saying that, Lazarus?

I hear this form a lot in the negative.

Hace dos años que no lo hago = I haven't done it for two years

Answer 3

James' suggestion is the most commonly used in Spanish. Whenever you want to mention how long you have been doing something, we tend to use "llevar", which is probably untranslatable word by word:

I have been '''''-ing something for [time expression]
Llevo [time expression] ''''-ndo algo

I have been learning Spanish for one year
Llevo un año estudiando español

Answer 4

That form is called the present perfect progressive in English.

I would say "Llevo un año estudiando español."

Answer 5

James Santiago said:

He estado aprendiendo...

But, depending on the context, this English phrase might be translated differently in natural Spanish.

Gracias James.

The context I had in mind was: I have been learning Spanish for 1 year.

Please could you tell me the name of the tense, as in "have been '''ing"'

Answer 6

He estado aprendiendo...

But, depending on the context, this English phrase might be translated differently in natural Spanish.