Breakdown of Llevo años sin sentir esta nostalgia.
el año
year
este
this
sin
without
sentir
to feel
llevar
to have been (doing) for a time
la nostalgia
the nostalgia
Questions & Answers about Llevo años sin sentir esta nostalgia.
Why does this sentence use llevo instead of the present perfect (no he sentido)?
While you could say no he sentido esta nostalgia en años, Spanish speakers very commonly use the structure llevar + [amount of time] + sin + [infinitive] to talk about how long it has been since an action last happened. It translates literally to "I carry years without feeling this nostalgia."
Why is sentir in the infinitive here, when the English translation says "felt"?
In Spanish, whenever a verb directly follows a preposition like sin (without), it must remain in its infinitive form. So, sin sentir translates literally to "without to feel." This is the standard way Spanish expresses "without feeling" or, in this negative duration structure, "haven't felt."
Do I need to use words like por or durante before años?
I always mix up este, esta, and esto. Why is it esta here?
Esta is the feminine singular word for "this," and it is used here to match the feminine noun nostalgia. As a quick refresher: este is for masculine nouns (like este libro), and esto is a neutral pronoun used only for abstract ideas or unknown objects (like "What is this?"), never directly next to a noun.
Learn Llevo años sin sentir esta nostalgia and more in Spanish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free