Learn Spanish (Latin America): Llevo dos horas forjando este hierro en el yunque. - I have been forging this iron on the anvil for two hours.

Llevo dos horas forjando este hierro en el yunque.

I have been forging this iron on the anvil for two hours.

Breakdown of Llevo dos horas forjando este hierro en el yunque.

Questions & Answers about Llevo dos horas forjando este hierro en el yunque.

Why use llevo here instead of he estado (I have been)?

While he estado forjando is grammatically correct, Spanish speakers overwhelmingly prefer the structure llevar + [time period] + [gerund] to express an action that started in the past and is still ongoing. It is the most natural way to say you have been doing something for a certain amount of time.

How would this change if the action had finished two hours ago?

You wouldn't use llevar at all. If the action is entirely in the past (e.g., 'I forged this iron two hours ago'), you use hace to mean 'ago'. You would say: Forjé este hierro hace dos horas.

Why does the sentence use en el yunque instead of sobre el yunque for 'on the anvil'?

The preposition en is the standard, everyday way to say both 'in' and 'on' in Spanish. You can use sobre (on/upon) if you really need to emphasize that it is physically resting on top of the surface, but en is much more common and perfectly natural here.

In Latin America, is it more common to say hierro or fierro?

Both are used and mean 'iron'. Fierro is an older variant that is still extremely common in everyday spoken Latin American Spanish, especially when talking about tools, weapons, or construction materials. Hierro is the standard, universally understood term.