hello everybody ! I want to know what's the difference (in meaning of course) between these three statements ^^; sorry I don't speak english very well , but really I can't understand lot of things , like the perfect tenses ^^ 1 - How long are you staying there ? 2- How long have you been staying there ? 3- How long did you stay there ?
1st The person whom you asked, haven't gone yet to the location you're talking about 2nd The person is still staying there 3rd The person doesn't stay there anymore
Thank you so much ok , I think that the first sentence means that the transmitter wants to know how long is the interlocuteur want so stay there ,but he hasn't come yet. is it true ?! and the second one , wants to know how long has the interlocutor been there ! the third one , asked for the period that the interlocutor stayed there ! am I right or not ?
yes you got it right NB: Here you reformulated the questions, for someone who doesn't feel easy with tenses and actions, it would be difficult to help him that way <D you should focus on how tenses are chosen depending on actions, still continuing or not, in the present or the past
(1) represents "who is asking" (2) represents "the other man" 1 - How long are you staying there ? the man (2) is there, and the (1) wants to know how many days (2) is going to stay there. 2- How long have you been staying there ? (2) is still there, (1) asks for the period of time between the first day till now 3- How long did you stay there ? (2) came back home, (1) wants to know how many days did (2) spend there.