Llevar + Gerund (Have Been Doing For...)

The construction llevar + time + gerund expresses the duration of an ongoing action—how long someone has been doing something. It's the equivalent of English "to have been doing X for...", and it's one of the most natural ways in Spanish to talk about time spent on an activity.

The verb llevar on its own means "to carry" or "to take", but in this periphrastic structure it becomes a marker of duration. It parallels the more traditional hace + time + que + verb construction, which you'll also encounter often.

Formation

The structure is: llevar (conjugated) + amount of time + gerund.

SubjectLlevar
  • time
  • Gerund
yollevodos añosestudiando español
túllevasdos añosestudiando español
él/ella/ustedllevados añosestudiando español
nosotrosllevamosdos añosestudiando español
ustedes/ellosllevandos añosestudiando español

Llevo dos años estudiando español.

I've been studying Spanish for two years.

Llevamos tres horas esperando el autobús.

We've been waiting for the bus for three hours.

Key Feature: Still Ongoing

This structure implies that the action is still going on at the moment of speaking (or at the past moment being described). If the action has finished, use a different structure like the preterite or present perfect.

Mi hermano lleva cinco años viviendo en México.

My brother has been living in Mexico for five years (and still lives there).

¿Cuánto tiempo llevas trabajando aquí?

How long have you been working here?

Llevar vs. Hace + Que

Both structures mean the same thing, but they word things differently:

Llevar + gerundHace + que + verb
Llevo dos años estudiando español.Hace dos años que estudio español.
Llevamos tres horas esperando.Hace tres horas que esperamos.
Lleva una semana trabajando allí.Hace una semana que trabaja allí.
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Both constructions are correct, but llevar + gerund sounds more concise and modern. Hace + que is equally common and slightly more traditional. In Latin America, you'll hear both interchangeably.

In the Imperfect

To shift the whole construction into the past, use the imperfect of llevar: llevaba + time + gerund means "had been doing something for...".

Llevaba años soñando con ese viaje.

She had been dreaming about that trip for years.

Llevábamos un mes planeando la fiesta cuando se canceló.

We had been planning the party for a month when it got canceled.

Llevar Without a Gerund

You can also use llevar + time with a past participle or even just a place to indicate duration, though gerunds are the most common complement:

Llevo diez minutos aquí.

I've been here for ten minutes.

Llevo mucho tiempo sin verte.

I haven't seen you in a long time.

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The structure llevar + sin + infinitive expresses the opposite idea: how long you've gone without doing something. Llevo dos años sin fumar means "I've gone two years without smoking".

Question Forms

The most common question using this structure is asking how long someone has been doing something:

¿Cuánto tiempo llevan juntos?

How long have you two been together?

Negative Form

The negation no llevar mucho tiempo + gerund expresses that you haven't been doing something for long:

No llevo mucho tiempo viviendo aquí, apenas unos meses.

I haven't been living here long, just a few months.

For general habitual actions (not ongoing duration), see soler + infinitive. For forming the gerund itself, see gerund formation.

Related Topics

  • Soler + Infinitive (Usually Do)B2 — Use soler + infinitive to express habitual actions—things you usually or typically do.
  • Formation (Estar + Gerund)A2 — Form the present progressive by conjugating estar in the present and adding the invariable gerund.
  • Gerund FormationA2 — Build the Spanish gerund by adding -ando to -ar verbs and -iendo to -er and -ir verbs, always invariable.