English normally asks “How long have you been...?” and answers with a present perfect progressive plus for or since. Catalan organizes the same timeline differently. The most established pattern is impersonal fa + duration + que + finite clause; des de fa measures backward from now; and dur/portar + duration + gerund are possible, increasingly common alternatives whose subject agrees with the finite verb. The wider distinction between starting points and measured spans appears under prepositions of distance and duration.
The core timeline
All the following can describe a situation that began two years ago and continues now, but they package the information differently:
Fa dos anys que treballo en aquesta escola.
I've been working at this school for two years.
Treballo en aquesta escola des de fa dos anys.
I've been working at this school for two years.
Porto dos anys treballant en aquesta escola.
I've been working at this school for two years.
Duc dos anys treballant en aquesta escola.
I've been working at this school for two years.
The first two patterns are deeply established and work freely with actions and states. The portar/dur + duration + gerund pattern is accepted in current standard descriptions, but it is more recent and traditionally judged less characteristically Catalan than fa... que. That history matters for style: use fa... que confidently everywhere, especially in careful (formal) prose.
Fa + duration + que
In the present-time pattern, fa is impersonal and remains third-person singular. The finite verb after que agrees with its own subject and is normally present because the situation still holds now.
| Subject of ongoing action | Duration pattern |
|---|---|
| jo | fa un any que visc aquí |
| tu | fa un any que vius aquí |
| ell / ella / vostè | fa un any que viu aquí |
| nosaltres | fa un any que vivim aquí |
| vosaltres | fa un any que viviu aquí |
| ells / elles / vostès | fa un any que viuen aquí |
Notice that fa never becomes fan in this impersonal use. The amount of time is not its grammatical subject.
Fa mitja hora que esperem l'autobús i encara no n'ha passat cap.
We've been waiting for the bus for half an hour and none has come yet.
Quant fa que coneixes l'Arnau?
How long have you known Arnau?
States such as conèixer, viure, tenir, and ser fit this construction naturally. English often forces a perfect form, but Catalan uses a present because the state includes the present moment.
Des de, des de fa, and the start point
Use des de + point in time for “since”: des de dilluns, des de les vuit, des del 2024. Use des de fa + duration when you count backward from now: des de fa tres mesos.
No plou des del mes de maig.
It hasn't rained since May.
Vivim en aquest barri des de fa sis anys.
We've lived in this neighborhood for six years.
English for does not translate as per here. Per dos anys can belong to other meanings or sound like a calque, while durant dos anys normally frames a bounded period rather than an ongoing span to the present: Va viure a Brussel·les durant dos anys “She lived in Brussels for two years.”
Portar or dur + duration + gerund
In this newer pattern, portar or dur is finite and agrees with the subject, followed by a duration and a gerund. The gerund names the ongoing activity.
| Person | portar | dur |
|---|---|---|
| jo | porto una hora esperant | duc una hora esperant |
| tu | portes una hora esperant | duus una hora esperant |
| ell / ella / vostè | porta una hora esperant | duu una hora esperant |
| nosaltres | portem una hora esperant | duem una hora esperant |
| vosaltres | porteu una hora esperant | dueu una hora esperant |
| ells / elles / vostès | porten una hora esperant | duen una hora esperant |
The irregular forms duc, duus, duu need to be learned. The spelling duu contains two vowels but no written accent. Both verbs can also be followed by a predicative phrase rather than a gerund: Porta tres setmanes de baixa “She has been on sick leave for three weeks.”
Portem tot el matí revisant les dades i encara hi ha dos errors.
We've been checking the data all morning and there are still two errors.
Duus gaire estona esperant-me?
Have you been waiting for me long?
There is genuine stylistic variation here. In everyday (informal) use, portar + duration + gerund is widespread. Dur is a standard lexical alternative and can be preferred regionally or stylistically. For the most conservative all-register solution, write Fa tot el matí que revisem les dades.
Negative duration: how long something has not happened
The clearest traditional pattern is fa + duration + que + no + finite verb.
Fa tres mesos que no veig la meva cosina.
I haven't seen my cousin for three months.
Feia anys que no nevava tant a prop del mar.
It had been years since it had snowed so much near the sea.
With portar or dur, the natural negative counterpart is duration + sense + infinitive:
Portem tres mesos sense veure'ns.
We haven't seen each other for three months.
Duen una setmana sense aigua calenta.
They've been without hot water for a week.
Do not put no + gerund after portar to imitate English “have not been doing.” Catalan profiles the absence with sense + infinitive or with the finite fa... que no construction.
Moving the viewpoint into the past
To measure duration at a past reference point, use imperfect feia... que and an imperfect finite verb, or imperfect portava/duia + duration + gerund. The situation may continue beyond that point, but the sentence itself views it from within the past.
Quan ens vam mudar, feia cinc anys que vivíem al mateix carrer.
When we moved, we had been living on the same street for five years.
Quan va arribar el tècnic, portàvem dues hores intentant reiniciar el servidor.
When the technician arrived, we had been trying to restart the server for two hours.
The periphrastic past in the interrupting clause (ens vam mudar, va arribar) marks a bounded event. The imperfect duration construction supplies the background leading up to it. English “had been” does not require Catalan to use a pluperfect progressive.
Future viewpoints are also possible: Dilluns farà un mes que treballem plegats. The future farà measures a duration that will be complete at the future reference point.
Tense, mood, and assertion
Duration does not mechanically determine mood. A factual duration is indicative: Fa dos anys que hi viu. Under a volitional or prospective environment, a subordinate verb may be subjunctive because its proposition is not asserted: Quan faci dos anys que hi visquis, podràs demanar l'ajut. The choice comes from the clause’s status, not from the word fa alone.
Quan faci sis mesos que treballeu aquí, tindreu dret a dies addicionals.
When you have worked here for six months, you will be entitled to additional days.
The future-oriented quan clause uses faci and treballeu because the milestone has not yet been reached.
Pronouns and word order
In fa... que, weak pronouns take their normal position in the finite clause: Fa una setmana que no l'he vist. With estar + gerund, a pronoun belonging to the gerund can stand before the finite verb or attach to the gerund. In the portar/dur + duration + gerund pattern, the intervening time phrase makes attachment to the gerund the clearest model.
L'estic esperant des de les nou.
I've been waiting for him since nine.
Porto una hora esperant-lo davant de l'estació.
I've been waiting for him outside the station for an hour.
The form esperant-lo has a hyphen but no added accent: Catalan hyphenates this postverbal weak pronoun, and the ordinary stress remains predictable. Do not import Spanish spelling such as esperándolo.
Mini-dialogue
—Quant fa que espereu? —Fa uns vint minuts que som aquí.
—How long have you been waiting? —We've been here for about twenty minutes.
—Encara no ha arribat el tren? —No; portem gairebé mitja hora esperant-lo.
—Has the train still not arrived? —No; we've been waiting for it for almost half an hour.
The first answer uses the most established finite pattern with a state; the second uses the newer gerund pattern to foreground the activity.
Regional and register notes
Fa... que and des de fa are standard throughout the Catalan-speaking domain and suit every register. Portar/dur + duration + gerund is also admitted in contemporary usage, but normative descriptions note that it is newer and less genuine than fa... que. Frequency and preference vary by speaker and region: portar is widespread colloquially, while dur remains a standard alternative. In (formal) editing, fa... que is the safest default unless the gerund construction contributes a useful discourse focus.
Common Mistakes
❌ He estat treballant aquí per dos anys.
Incorrect English-influenced pattern — use a present duration construction, not per plus a perfect progressive.
✅ Fa dos anys que treballo aquí.
I've been working here for two years.
❌ Fan tres setmanes que esperem una resposta.
Incorrect — temporal fer is impersonal and remains singular.
✅ Fa tres setmanes que esperem una resposta.
We've been waiting for an answer for three weeks.
❌ Visc aquí per cinc anys.
Incorrect for an ongoing span — per does not translate duration-for here.
✅ Visc aquí des de fa cinc anys.
I've lived here for five years.
❌ Portem dos mesos no veient-nos.
Incorrect — ongoing absence uses sense plus infinitive.
✅ Portem dos mesos sense veure'ns.
We haven't seen each other for two months.
❌ Quan va arribar, fa dues hores que l'esperàvem.
Incorrect viewpoint — the duration is measured from a past reference point, so use feia.
✅ Quan va arribar, feia dues hores que l'esperàvem.
When he arrived, we had been waiting for him for two hours.
Key Takeaways
- Fa + duration + que + present is the most established way to express a situation that began in the past and continues now.
- Use des de + starting point for “since” and des de fa + duration for an amount counted back from now.
- Portar/dur + duration + gerund is possible and widespread, but is newer and less traditional than fa... que.
- Temporal fer is impersonal and singular; portar and dur agree with the participant.
- Move a past viewpoint into the imperfect: feia... que vivia, portava... treballant.
- For an ongoing absence, use fa... que no or portar/dur + duration + sense + infinitive.
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Start learning Catalan →Related Topics
- Distance and Duration ComplementsA2 — Express how far, how long, how long ago, and since when with bare measure phrases, durant, fa, des de fa, and de… a…
- Prepositions of TimeA2 — Use Catalan temporal prepositions for clock times, dates, starting points, spans, deadlines, approximate moments, and future intervals.
- Progressive Periphrases with the GerundA2 — Choose among estar, anar, continuar, and seguir plus a gerund, and avoid nonstandard aspectual venir plus gerund.
- Periphrastic Past versus ImperfectB1 — Choose between vaig parlar and parlava by reading event boundaries, narrative foreground, habits, completed counts, and viewpoint.
- Portar or Dur?B2 — Choose between the broadly overlapping verbs portar and dur by region, construction, idiom, and register rather than English bring/take.
- Overusing Estar plus GerundA1 — Replace English-driven progressive forms with the Catalan simple present or imperfect unless an unfolding process is genuinely in focus.