Learn Hardcore Russian: Мы давно живём в этом доме. - We have been living in this house for a long time.

The verb живём is simply present tense, imperfective aspect and normally translates here as:
- “We have been living (and still live) in this house for a long time.”
Russian shows the idea of “for a long time already” by:
- using the imperfective present (живём),
- and adding an adverb like давно (“for a long time / long ago”).

So the combination давно + present tense often corresponds to English “have been doing something for a long time.”

What exactly does давно mean in this sentence?

Давно literally means:

“a long time ago” or “for a long time”, depending on context.

Here, with a present tense verb (живём), it means:

“for a long time (already)” – emphasizing duration up to now.

If it were used with a past-tense verb, like Мы давно жили в этом доме, it would usually mean:

“We lived in this house long ago.”

So давно + present = long duration up to now;
давно + past = something that happened a long time ago and is over.

Could you say “Мы живём в этом доме давно” instead? Is the word order important?

Yes, Мы живём в этом доме давно is grammatically correct and natural.

Word order in Russian is flexible and often used to change emphasis, not basic meaning:

Мы давно живём в этом доме.
Emphasis slightly more on “for a long time”: It’s been a long time that we live in this house.
Мы живём в этом доме давно.
Emphasis slightly more on “this house” as the place where this long-term living happens.

In everyday speech, both versions are very close in meaning; the difference is subtle.

Why is мы (we) explicitly used? Can it be left out?

Yes, мы can be left out, because the verb ending -ём in живём already shows 1st person plural (we):

Мы давно живём в этом доме.
Давно живём в этом доме.

Both are correct.
Including мы makes the subject explicit or slightly emphasized.
Leaving it out is normal in Russian, especially if the subject is obvious from context.

Why is it живём, not something like проживаем or a reflexive form?

The basic verb for “to live (reside)” in Russian is жить.

Мы живём = We live / we are living.

Other verbs exist but have different nuances:

проживать – more formal/official, often in documents:
- Я проживаю в Москве. – I reside in Moscow.
Reflexive forms like житься mean something else:
- Мне здесь хорошо живётся. – It’s good living here / I feel good living here.

For a normal, neutral sentence about where you live, жить (живём) is the standard choice.

What case is в этом доме using, and why?

В этом доме uses the prepositional case.

дом (nominative) → в доме (prepositional).
этот дом → в этом доме:
- этот → этом (prepositional masculine singular)
- дом → доме (prepositional singular)

The preposition в + prepositional case is used to express location inside something:

в доме – in the house
в городе – in the city
в школе – in the school

So в этом доме = in this house (as a place where we are / live).

Why not use на доме instead of в доме?

Because в and на express different spatial relations:

в доме – inside the house, as residents.
на доме – on the house (on its roof or surface), which would mean physically on top of the building.

Since we live inside a house, Russian uses в доме, not на доме.

Is there any difference between Этот дом and в этом доме? Why do we need этом?

Yes, there is a grammatical difference:

Этот дом – nominative case: “this house” as the subject or object of a sentence.
в этом доме – prepositional case after в: “in this house” as a location.

Russian adjectives and demonstratives must agree in case with the nouns they modify:

Nominative: этот дом
Prepositional: в этом доме

You can’t say в этот дом here, because that would be accusative (“into this house,” motion toward). Here we’re talking about where we live (location), not where we’re going, so we need в этом доме.

Why is the stress on живём and why do we use ё instead of е?

The verb form is живём, stressed on the final syllable: жи-вЁм.

In standard Russian, ё is always stressed and pronounced “yo”.
Many texts write е instead of ё, so you might see живем, but it is still pronounced живём.

Grammar:

Infinitive: жить
1st person plural: мы живём

So ё here shows the correct pronunciation and stress: [ж-и-вЙОМ] (zhee-VYOM).

Do we need уже (already) to match the English “have been living”?

Уже is not required, but it’s often added for emphasis:

Мы давно живём в этом доме.
We have been living in this house for a long time.
Мы уже давно живём в этом доме.
We have already been living in this house for a long time.
(Stronger emphasis on “it’s been a long time now.”)

So давно alone can express “for a long time,” and adding уже just intensifies the feeling that it’s been quite a long while.

Is жить imperfective or perfective? How would the perfective look in a similar meaning?

Жить is imperfective; it describes a process or ongoing state.

The common perfective partner is прожить:

Мы прожили в этом доме десять лет.
We lived (spent) ten years in this house.
– Action is seen as completed; we are no longer living there (usually).

In your original sentence:

Мы давно живём в этом доме. – We have been living here for a long time (and probably still do).
A perfective like прожили would usually imply that this period is over.

How would the meaning change if it were Мы жили в этом доме давно or Мы давно жили в этом доме?

These forms use past tense жили (“lived”) instead of the present живём:

Мы давно жили в этом доме.
Usually understood as: We lived in this house a long time ago.
(Focus on it being in the distant past.)
Мы жили в этом доме давно.
Similar idea; word order is less typical but still can mean “We lived in this house a long time ago.”

So:

давно живём (present) → long duration up to now.
давно жили (past) → something in the distant past, not ongoing.