How long in Spanish: cuánto tiempo, desde cuándo and llevar + gerund

"How long have you been in Mexico?" "How long does the flight take?" "How long have you known each other?" The English question is always "how long," but Spanish splits it into several structures — ¿Cuánto tiempo…?, ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que…?, ¿Desde cuándo…?, ¿Cuánto tiempo llevas…? — and the answers use a tense you wouldn't expect. This guide covers all of them.

In 40 years of teaching, "how long" is the question English speakers get wrong most consistently, and it's not their fault: English uses the present perfect ("I have lived here for two years") where Spanish uses the plain present. Once you see that switch, everything else in this lesson is just choosing which pattern you like best.

The big pictureWhen to ask "how long" in Spanish

There are really three different "how long" questions hiding inside the English phrase, and Spanish has a structure for each:

• Duration up to now (still happening) — "How long have you been studying Spanish?" You started in the past and you're still doing it. This is the big one, and it uses the present tense: ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que estudias español? / ¿Cuánto tiempo llevas estudiando español?
• Starting point — "Since when have you worked here?" The question asks for the moment it began: ¿Desde cuándo trabajas aquí? Answer with a date or with desde hace + duration.
• Length of an event or a finished action — "How long does the movie last?" "How long did you live in Peru?" ¿Cuánto dura la película? / ¿Cuánto tiempo viviste en Perú? Here the verb is in whatever tense the event is in: present for schedules, preterite for the past, future for plans.

The core vocabulary is tiny: cuánto tiempo (how much time), hace (literally "it makes," used for elapsed time), desde (since), llevar (to carry — here, to have been at something), and durar (to last). Let's build the patterns.

The patternsHow to form "how long" questions and answers

Every pattern below is shown as a question and its matching answer. Notice that in the first four, the main verb is in the present, even though English says "have been."

In everyday speech, hace + duration + que and llevar + duration + gerund are the two you'll hear most. Both are covered in depth in my lesson on the present perfect continuous in Spanish.

Llevar + time + gerund: the most native pattern

Llevar literally means "to carry," and in this structure you "carry" an amount of time doing something. Conjugate llevar in the present, add the duration, add the gerund:

• Llevo tres años viviendo en Madrid. — I've been living in Madrid for three years.
• Llevamos dos horas esperando el autobús. — We've been waiting for the bus for two hours.
• ¿Cuánto tiempo llevas aprendiendo español? — How long have you been learning Spanish?

When the verb is obvious, drop the gerund: Llevo un mes aquí (I've been here a month). And for a negative, use sin + infinitive: Llevo dos semanas sin fumar (I haven't smoked in two weeks).

Hace + time + que + present

Same meaning, different order: Hace tres años que vivo en Madrid. You can also flip it and drop que: Vivo en Madrid desde hace tres años. Both are correct, and both keep the main verb in the present. The full comparison of desde, desde hace and hace…que is in my lesson on since and for in Spanish.

In contextExamples in real Spanish

From the classroomCommon mistakes English speakers make

1. Using the present perfect for ongoing duration. He vivido aquí por tres años is understandable but sounds translated. If you still live there, use the present: Vivo aquí desde hace tres años or Llevo tres años viviendo aquí.
2. Translating "how long" literally. ¿Qué largo…? or ¿Cómo largo…? don't exist for time. Largo is physical length. Time is always cuánto tiempo.
3. Forgetting "que" after hace + time. Hace dos años vivo aquí is missing its hinge. Either add que — Hace dos años que vivo aquí — or move hace to the end with desde: Vivo aquí desde hace dos años.
4. Putting the gerund before the time with llevar. Llevo viviendo tres años aquí is heard, but the natural order is llevo tres años viviendo aquí: verb, duration, gerund.
5. Using "hace…que" for a finished period. Hace dos años que viví en Chile mixes an ongoing structure with a completed verb. If it's over, just state the duration: Viví en Chile durante dos años. Reserve hace…que and llevar for things that are still true.

Sibling lesson"How long" vs "how long ago"

Two English questions, one word apart, and two completely different Spanish structures. "How long have you…?" asks about duration that continues to now and uses the present: ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que vives aquí? "How long ago did you…?" asks about a point in the past and uses the preterite with hace alone: ¿Cuánto hace que llegaste? — Llegué hace dos años (I arrived two years ago).

The signal is the tense of the main verb. Present → still true, "for / since." Preterite → finished, "ago." That's why hace tres años que vivo aquí means "I've lived here for three years," while viví aquí hace tres años means "I lived here three years ago." Same words, opposite meanings.

If the distinction between "since a date" and "for a duration" is what trips you, go to since and for in Spanish. If you want to master the "I have been doing" structure itself, the present perfect continuous in Spanish is the next step. And all the time-related little words — desde, hasta, durante, por — live in my hub on Spanish prepositions.