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Llevamos diez años sin charlar, pero tú no tienes arrugas.

Llevamos diez años sin charlar, pero tú no tienes arrugas.
We haven't chatted in ten years, but you do not have wrinkles.
From Lesson 205:Negative duration (llevar... sin)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Llevamos diez años sin charlar, pero tú no tienes arrugas.

How does llevamos diez años sin charlar mean "we haven't chatted in ten years"?
This sentence uses the structure llevar + [time] + sin + [infinitive]. It literally translates to "we carry ten years without chatting." This is the most natural way in Spanish to express how much time has passed since you last did something.
Why is llevamos in the present tense when the English translation uses the present perfect ("haven't chatted")?
In Spanish, when a period of time started in the past and continues into the present, we use the present tense. Because the ten-year period of not chatting is still true right now, llevamos is in the present tense rather than the past or present perfect.
Could I use hablar instead of charlar here?
Yes! Hablar means "to speak" or "to talk," which works perfectly fine. However, charlar specifically means "to chat" or have a casual conversation. Since they are old friends catching up, charlar gives the sentence a warmer, friendlier feeling.
Why include the pronoun tú before no tienes? Couldn't we just drop it?
You can absolutely just say pero no tienes arrugas, since the ending of tienes already tells us "you" are the subject. Including tú here adds emphasis. The speaker is creating a friendly contrast: "we" haven't spoken in a long time, but "you" specifically look great.

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