Desde Hace vs Hace vs Llevar: Talking About Duration in Spanish
“I’ve been studying Spanish for three years” has at least three natural translations in Spanish, and none of them use a direct word-for-word version of “for.” Instead, Spanish leans on three different structures — llevar, hace…que, and desde hace — to express how long something has been going on. They’re mostly interchangeable in meaning, but the sentence structure around each one is different, and mixing the grammar up is the real trap.
The short version
- Llevar + time + gerund: the most natural, conversational option. Llevo dos años estudiando español.
- Hace + time + que + present tense: a common alternative, often placed at the start of the sentence. Hace dos años que estudio español.
- Desde hace + time, attached directly to a verb already in progress: Estudio español desde hace dos años.
All three sentences mean essentially the same thing: “I’ve been studying Spanish for two years,” and the action is still ongoing in the present.
Llevar + time + gerund
This is the structure most native speakers reach for first in conversation. The subject goes with llevar, and the main action becomes a gerund (the -ando/-iendo form): Llevo tres meses trabajando aquí. (I’ve been working here for three months.) Lleva un año viviendo en Chile. (She’s been living in Chile for a year.) Llevamos horas esperando. (We’ve been waiting for hours.)
Hace + time + que
This version puts the time expression first, often at the very start of the sentence, followed by “que” and the verb in the present tense (not a gerund): Hace tres meses que trabajo aquí. Same meaning, different structure — note the verb stays in a normal present tense form (“trabajo”), not a gerund. Hace años que no lo veo. (I haven’t seen him in years.)
Desde hace
This structure attaches directly onto a sentence that’s already complete on its own, adding the duration at the end (or sometimes the beginning): Trabajo aquí desde hace tres meses. It reads almost like an afterthought tacked onto a normal present-tense sentence, which makes it feel the most “regular” grammatically to English speakers. Vivimos en esta ciudad desde hace diez años. (We’ve lived in this city for ten years.)
Quick chart
| Structure | Pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Llevar | llevar + time + gerund | Llevo un año aprendiendo. |
| Hace…que | hace + time + que + present | Hace un año que aprendo. |
| Desde hace | present + desde hace + time | Aprendo desde hace un año. |
The past-tense version: hacía
All three structures shift to describe something that had been happening up until a point in the past, using the imperfect hacía instead of hace: Llevaba dos años estudiando cuando me mudé. (I had been studying for two years when I moved.) Hacía tres meses que trabajaba allí cuando renuncié. (I had been working there for three months when I quit.) Vivía en Lima desde hacía cinco años. (I had been living in Lima for five years.) The logic stays identical — just shifted a tense back.
Negative duration: talking about something that hasn’t happened
These structures work just as naturally with negative statements, describing how long it’s been since something last happened, which is a very common real-world use that courses often skip. No lo veo desde hace un año. (I haven’t seen him in a year.) Hace meses que no como pizza. (I haven’t eaten pizza in months.) Llevo semanas sin dormir bien. (I’ve gone weeks without sleeping well — notice llevar pairs with “sin” plus an infinitive here instead of a gerund, since the action is something not happening.) The negative versions follow the same three-structure system, just reframed around absence instead of an ongoing action.
Mistakes learners make
- Using a gerund after hace…que: it should stay in a normal present tense verb form, not switch to -ando/-iendo. Hace un año que estudiando is wrong; it’s hace un año que estudio.
- Forgetting “que” after hace when the time expression comes first: Hace tres años estudio español should be Hace tres años que estudio español.
- Mixing llevar’s gerund requirement with the other structures: llevar needs a gerund (llevo estudiando), not a plain present tense (llevo estudio is wrong).
- Using a gerund with llevar in a negative sentence about absence: it should be sin plus an infinitive, not a negated gerund — llevo sin dormir, not llevo no durmiendo.
Desde vs desde hace: don’t drop the “hace”
A related, easy-to-miss slip: desde alone means “since,” pointing to a starting moment (desde el lunes — since Monday), while desde hace specifically measures a span of duration (desde hace tres días — for three days). They look almost interchangeable but answer different questions — desde answers “since when,” desde hace answers “for how long.” Vivo aquí desde 2020 (I’ve lived here since 2020) points to a starting date; Vivo aquí desde hace cinco años (I’ve lived here for five years) measures the length of time instead. Dropping “hace” when you mean duration, or adding it when you mean a fixed starting point, is a subtle but common mix-up.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between llevar, hace que, and desde hace for duration?
They express the same idea — how long something has been ongoing — but use different sentence structures. Llevar takes a gerund, hace…que takes a normal present-tense verb after “que,” and desde hace attaches to an already-complete sentence.
Do you use a gerund with hace…que?
No, that’s specific to llevar. Hace…que uses a regular present-tense verb form.
How do you say “I’ve been living here for five years” in Spanish?
Any of these work: Llevo cinco años viviendo aquí. Hace cinco años que vivo aquí. Vivo aquí desde hace cinco años.
Which structure is most common in everyday speech?
Llevar + gerund is generally the most natural and frequently used in conversational Spanish, though all three are correct and widely understood.
How do you say you haven’t done something in a while?
All three structures work in the negative: No lo veo desde hace un año. Hace un año que no lo veo. Llevo un año sin verlo.
What’s the past-tense form of these duration structures?
Hace becomes hacía, and llevo becomes llevaba, describing something that had been ongoing up to a point in the past: Llevaba un año estudiando cuando me mudé.
Check your Spanish before you send it
Duration expressions have tricky grammar even when the meaning is clear in your head. corrector.co’s free Spanish checker can help you catch structural mistakes.
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