I am looking at the following statement, "Hace tres añ0s que estudio." I have a question on the "estudio". The book translates this as "I've studied for three years." or " I've been studying for three years". I think that "estudio" is the Yo form of the present tense for Estudiar. I don't see how one gets the past tense, which looks like past progressive, out of "estudio" in this sentence.
Thank you for your help in this.
Henk Roelant
Need help on Page 38 Examples of Advanced Spanish Book

haroelant
June 27, 2008

spinpdx
June 27, 2008
Henk, I think this is how it works:
In the case of Hace + an amount of time + que, the present tense of the verb translates to I have been ___ing for the specified amt of time.
With your example, the preterite tense of the verb changes the translation to I studied three years ago.
Hope that helps.
spinpdx

haroelant
June 30, 2008
Thank you, but I'm still a little unclear of what is happening with the conversion of the present tense you form to a past tense using hacer , an amount of time, que.
Henk Roelant

nohablo
June 30, 2008
The trick is not to expect Spanish to be exactly like English. *Hace* + a period of time + *que* + a verb in the present tense is translated into English as "has/have (been) doing something for a period of time. For example, *¿Cuánto tiempo hace que estudias español? * is translated as "How long have you studied/been studying Spanish? Perhaps it might help if you think of this somewhat awkward translation: How long are you studying Spanish? We don't really say that in English, but I think if you heard someone say that, you'd understand that s/he was saying "How long have you been studying Spanish?