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¿Cuánto tiempo llevan ustedes estudiando la teoría del arte?

¿Cuánto tiempo llevan ustedes estudiando la teoría del arte?
How much time have you been studying the theory of art?
From Lesson 158:Duration (llevar + gerund)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about ¿Cuánto tiempo llevan ustedes estudiando la teoría del arte?

Why does the Spanish sentence use llevan (from llevar, to carry) when the English translation says "have you been"?
In Spanish, the most natural way to say how long you have been doing something is to use the verb llevar followed by the amount of time and a gerund (the -ando or -iendo form). While han estado estudiando is grammatically correct, llevan estudiando is much more common for expressing an ongoing duration.
Why is ustedes placed between llevan and estudiando?
In Spanish questions, the subject (ustedes) often comes right after the first conjugated verb (llevan). You could also put it at the very beginning (¿Ustedes cuánto tiempo llevan estudiando...?) or at the end of the sentence, but placing it right after the conjugated verb is very natural.
Can I leave out the word tiempo and just ask ¿Cuánto llevan ustedes estudiando...?
Yes! In everyday conversation, Spanish speakers frequently drop the word tiempo in this phrase. Asking ¿Cuánto llevan ustedes estudiando...? means exactly the same thing and is very common.
Why is there a la before teoría del arte?
Spanish usually requires definite articles (el, la, los, las) when talking about abstract concepts, general ideas, or specific fields of study. Because "art theory" is a specific subject here, it needs the article la.

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