Breakdown of No tienes arrugas, pero llevo veinte años sin verte.
pero
but
no
no, not
tener
to have
ver
to see / to look / appear
el año
the year
te
to you / you (direct object)
veinte
twenty
sin
without
llevar
to have been (doing) for a time
la arruga
the wrinkle
Questions & Answers about No tienes arrugas, pero llevo veinte años sin verte.
How does "llevo veinte años sin verte" translate to "I haven't seen you in twenty years"?
This sentence uses the formula llevar + [amount of time] + sin + [infinitive]. Literally, it translates to "I carry twenty years without seeing you." In Spanish, this is the standard and most natural way to express how long it has been since you last did something.
I thought llevar meant "to carry" or "to wear". Why is it used here for time?
Why does Spanish use the infinitive ver instead of a gerund like viendo after sin?
In English, we say "without seeing", which uses an "-ing" verb. But a strict rule in Spanish is that whenever a verb comes directly after a preposition—like sin (without), de (of/from), or para (for)—it must always be in its infinitive form. Therefore, "without seeing" becomes sin ver.
Why is the pronoun te attached to the end of ver? Could I put it before llevo instead?
Because te is the object of the verb ver, it attaches directly to the end of the infinitive to make verte. While you might remember moving pronouns to the very front of the sentence with other verb combinations, you can't do that here. The preposition sin acts as a barrier, meaning the pronoun is forced to stay attached to the infinitive.
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