Questions & Answers about Мы давно дружим.
Russian doesn’t have a separate present perfect tense like English (have been, have done etc.).
To express an action that started in the past and continues now, Russian very often uses:
- Present tense of an imperfective verb +
- a time adverb like давно, уже, давно уже, много лет etc.
So:
- Мы давно дружим.
Literally: We long-ago / for a long time are-friends.
Naturally in English: We have been friends for a long time.
Other similar patterns:
- Я давно его знаю. – I’ve known him for a long time.
- Он уже два года здесь живёт. – He’s been living here for two years.
So дружим is grammatically simple present in Russian, but in context it covers the English idea of “have been friends (for some time and still are)”.
Both давно and долго are related to “a long time,” but they focus on different things:
давно: “since long ago,” “for a long time (already)”
– Focus on the starting point being far in the past.долго: “for a long time (duration)”
– Focus on the length of time, not on when it started.
In Мы давно дружим:
- давно means: our friendship started a long time ago and still continues.
Compare:
Мы давно дружим.
We became friends long ago and are still friends now.Мы долго дружили.
We were friends for a long time (but the friendship may have ended).
So давно is perfect for “have been friends (for a long time and still are)”, while долго is more neutral about whether it’s still true now and just highlights long duration.
Both can be translated as “We have been friends for a long time”, but there is a nuance:
Мы давно дружим.
- Uses the verb дружить (“to be friends / to have a friendly relationship”).
- Emphasizes the ongoing interaction, the process of being friends, having a relationship.
Мы давно друзья.
- Uses the noun друзья (“friends”) as a predicate.
- Emphasizes the status or fact of being friends, rather than the activity.
In most situations they are interchangeable, but:
- Мы давно дружим feels a bit more dynamic: we interact, support each other, etc.
- Мы давно друзья sounds a bit more like stating a category or role: we are friends (and have been for a long time).
Дружим is:
- Person: 1st person
- Number: plural
- Tense: present
- Aspect: imperfective
- From the infinitive: дружить (to be friends, to be friendly with someone)
Full present-tense conjugation of дружить:
- я дру́жу – I am friends (with)
- ты дру́жишь – you are friends (with) (singular, informal)
- он/она дру́жит – he/she is friends (with)
- мы дру́жим – we are friends (with)
- вы дру́жите – you are friends (with) (plural / formal)
- они дру́жат – they are friends (with)
Stress is on дру́- in all forms: дру́жу, дру́жишь, дру́жим, etc.
The verb дружить is imperfective only; if you want a “to become friends” meaning, you normally use perfective verbs like подружи́ться or сдружи́ться.
Yes, in many contexts you can omit мы:
- (Мы) давно дружим.
Russian often drops personal pronouns when the subject is clear from context and the verb ending. The verb ending -им shows 1st person plural, so it’s unambiguous.
Nuances:
- Мы давно дружим. – Neutral, slightly more explicit, good in most contexts and in writing.
- Давно дружим. – More colloquial / conversational; feels like “(Yeah,) we’ve been friends for a long time.”
Omitting мы is very common in dialogue when both speakers know who “we” are. If the context is not entirely clear, keeping мы is safer.
The basic meaning is the same — “We have been friends for a long time.” The difference is in emphasis / information structure:
Мы давно дружим.
- давно is in the middle position.
- Very neutral, typical word order.
- Slight emphasis on давно: the fact it’s been a long time.
Мы дружим давно.
- Moves давно to the end of the sentence.
- Puts a bit more final stress on давно.
- Feels a little more expressive, like:
“We’ve been friends for a long time, you know.”
In everyday speech, they are both fine. If you’re not sure, Мы давно дружим is the safest and most neutral.
You can extend the same structure by adding a time phrase:
- Мы дружим уже пять лет.
- Мы уже пять лет дружим.
Both mean: “We have been friends for five years.”
Notes:
- уже (“already”) is very natural here, to emphasize that the period has accumulated.
- пять лет is in the genitive plural form of год because it’s a quantity after a number greater than 4.
- Word order is flexible:
- Мы уже пять лет дружим. – Slight emphasis on the whole duration.
- Мы дружим уже пять лет. – Slight emphasis on the verb дружим and then how long it’s been.
You rarely need any extra preposition like for; Russian simply uses the time expression in the appropriate case (here: пять лет).
With дружить, the person you are friends with is introduced by с + instrumental case.
So:
- Мы давно дружим с ним. – We have been friends with him for a long time.
- Мы давно дружим с ней. – We have been friends with her for a long time.
- Мы давно дружим с ними. – We have been friends with them for a long time.
Pattern:
- дружить с кем? – to be friends with whom?
- с ним – with him
- с ней – with her
- с ними – with them
- с Петей – with Petya
- с сосе́дом – with the neighbor
In Мы давно дружим. the “with whom” part is just omitted because it’s either obvious from context or not important to mention right now.
The usual patterns are:
- Мы дружим. – We are friends / we have a friendly relationship.
- Мы друзья. – We are friends.
Мы давно друзьями is not standard; you would normally say:
- Мы давно друзья.
Differences:
дружить (verb):
- Focus on the relationship / interaction.
- Often used with adverbs of time:
- Мы давно дружим.
- Мы уже много лет дружим.
быть друзьями is not used in the present tense because быть is usually dropped in present. Instead you just say:
- Мы друзья.
- Мы давно друзья.
So for the target meaning, prefer:
- Мы давно дружим.
or - Мы давно друзья.
Дружить is specifically about friendship or friendly relations, and it implies mutuality:
- Мы дружим. – We are friends (with each other).
It does not normally mean:
- romantic love → that’s любить (to love)
- just liking someone / something → that’s нравиться (to be liked)
Examples:
- Я дружу с ней. – I’m friends with her.
- Я люблю её. – I love her (romantically or deeply).
- Она мне нравится. – I like her (she is attractive / pleasant to me).
So дружим in Мы давно дружим is about friendship, not romance or casual liking (although friends can of course also have romantic feelings in real life; the verb itself just encodes “are friends”).
Word by word:
- Мы – [мы] with a short ы sound, like “my” but with lips more spread and tongue further back.
- давно́ – [давно́], stress on the second syllable: da-vNÓ.
- дру́жим – [дру́жим], stress on the first syllable: DRÚ-zhim.
So the main stressed syllables are:
- мы давнО́ дрУ́жим
In natural speech it sounds like one smooth phrase, but the stress peaks are on -но́ and дру́-.
You can contrast давно (“for a long time already”) with недавно (“not long ago, recently”):
- Мы неда́вно дружим. – literally: “We recently are-friends.”
However, that is possible but not very common sounding. More natural ways:
- Мы недавно подружи́лись. – We became friends recently.
- Мы дружим совсем неда́вно. – We’ve been friends for just a short time.
So:
- Use давно with дружим to stress long-standing friendship:
- Мы давно дружим.
- Use недавно often with подружи́лись to talk about becoming friends recently:
- Мы недавно подружи́лись.
Мы давно дружим is neutral in style:
- Absolutely fine in spoken Russian (with friends, in everyday conversation).
- Also fine in written Russian (emails, letters, narratives, even many formal contexts if the topic is personal relationships).
It’s not slangy or childish, and not particularly official either. It’s a standard, everyday, neutral way to say “We have been friends for a long time.”