Uzun zamandır sinemaya gitmiyorum.

to go

Breakdown of Uzun zamandır sinemaya gitmiyorum.

• sinema: the cinema
• uzun zamandır: for a long time

Questions & Answers about Uzun zamandır sinemaya gitmiyorum.

What does uzun zamandır literally mean, and what is the role of -dır?

Uzun zamandır is built from:

• uzun – long
• zaman – time
• -dır – a copular suffix (3rd person “to be”) often used with time expressions

Literally it’s something like “it is a long time (that …)”, but in real usage it functions as an adverbial meaning “for a long time”.

The pattern is:

• [time expression] + -dır/-dir/-dur/-dür → “for [that amount of time]”

Examples:

• İki saattir bekliyorum. – I’ve been waiting for two hours.
• Yıllardır burada yaşıyorum. – I’ve been living here for years.

So Uzun zamandır sinemaya gitmiyorum ≈ “For a long time, I haven’t been going to the cinema.”

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Can I just say uzun zaman instead of uzun zamandır?

Not in exactly the same structure.

• Uzun zamandır sinemaya gitmiyorum. – natural and common
• ✗ Uzun zaman sinemaya gitmiyorum. – sounds wrong/unusual

If you drop -dır, you normally change the rest of the sentence, for example:

• Uzun zaman sinemaya gitmedim. – “I didn’t go to the cinema for a long time.”

So uzun zamandır is a fixed, very common pattern for “for a long time” in sentences like this. The -dır is part of what makes it sound natural.

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Why is gitmiyorum (present continuous negative) used, when in English we say “I haven’t been going / I haven’t gone”?