 When vs. How long? What's the difference between when and how long in English? Generally speaking, when indicates a specific time while how long indicates expanded time or duration. For example, when did you get back from Schenectady? I got back last night. That's talking about a specific time in the past. How long were you in Schenectady? I was there for two weeks. This is talking about a length of time beyond the basics. The concept is a little more complex than that. We often talk about events generally, but can sometimes expand or refocus the time frame. For example, where did you grow up? That's a general question. I grew up in Connecticut. How long were you there? I were going to refocus the time period. I was there during the 1990s, or I was there from 1991 to 1999. Where were you living at the time? I was living in Milford. In the past, we use when with the simple past, talking about a specific time. For example, I came back yesterday. For a general time in the past, I grew up in Arizona. That's talking about simple facts. With how long were we going to expand the time frame? From A to B, from beginning to end of a time period. I lived there from 2001 to 2008. I lived there for seven years. It's talking about duration. I was living there for seven years. When we use the past continuous tense, it's usually in relation to something else. For example, I was living there for seven years, while my wife was at the university. In the future, we use when in the simple future. For example, when will you come back is talking about a specific time. I will come back next Monday. We can also use it with general time. I will work in Montana. We're just talking about some simple facts here. With how long were going to expand the time frame? From when to when, beginning to end. I will work there from Friday until Monday. I will work there for four days, talking about duration. I will be working there for four days. When the present, when and how long are not commonly used in the present tense? That's because present time usually exists only for an instant, not over a long period of time. However, these words can sometimes be used generally. When are you free? We're asking about your schedule. It's more common to say, when will you be free, because we're thinking about the future. How long are you here? That's kind of unusual. More common would be something like this. How long will you be here? This is connected to the future. Or how long have you been here, connected to the past? When we connect the present to the past, the present perfect is involved. This can be a little complicated. It involves two types of verbs, action and status. For example, when did you arrive? This asks for a specific time in the past and is talking about a specific action. How long have you been here? This asks for a length of time and is talking about status, something that has existed over a long period of time. And did you arrive? How long have you been here? You can see on the timeline how we separate the action from the status which exists for a long period of time. We do not say, how long have you arrived? That is incorrect. Don't mix action and status verbs. We can say, how long have you been here or when did you arrive? In some languages, it's okay to use the same verbs to indicate action and status. It is different in English. We use separate verbs to indicate these two things. For example, how long have you met Eddie? That is incorrect. We should say, when did you meet Eddie? This is the past action. You only met him once. How long have you known Eddie? Here we're using the present perfect to indicate that we've known him for a long time. The state of knowing him has existed for a long time. In English, we use meet for the one-time occurrence, action in the past, and no for the long-term status from the time you met him until now. I met Eddie ten years ago. I have known him for ten years until now. Here is a partial list of action status verb pairs in English. Action, when did you? Status, how long have you? Let's look at how these go together. When did you meet John? How long have you known John? When did you arrive or get here? How long have you been here? When did you return? When did you come back or get back? How long have you been back? Remember to use the present perfect in these cases. Buy and purchase, have or own. Get and acquire, have or own. Move here, live here. Also, we can say how long have you been living here? Put on clothing, this is when you get dressed. Wear, also how long have you been wearing that? Fall asleep, be asleep. Also, be sleeping. We'll talk about these ING forms in just a minute. When did you get married? How long have you been married? For and since. These two prepositions, for and since, are often used with the present perfect tense to indicate length of time. For example, I have lived here for eight years. We have been married for seven years. She has had that motorcycle since October. She has been a lawyer since 2019. The present perfect continuous tense can also be used, but only for some verbs. For example, I have been living in this house for nine years. They have been working at IBC for several years. We cannot say he has been owning that car for a few months. We do not say owning in the continuous tense. Also, we have to change have to has because of he. More action status verb pairs in English. Action when did you? Status how long have you? When did you become a doctor? How long have you been a doctor? Use the present perfect tense with how long have you? Die, when did your dog die? How long has it been dead? Graduate, when did you graduate? How long have you been out of school? Get divorced, be divorced. Get engaged, be engaged. Start or begin a job, work or also be working, which in the present perfect is been working. How long have you been working there? How long have you worked there? Wake up or get up, be awake or be up. Notice with the star or asterisk, it means that the present perfect continuous tense is possible with some of these verbs, not all of them. You can see more information about this at eslgold slash grammar slash action underscore status. Common mistakes and corrections. How long have you bought that car? This is incorrect. The correct way to say it would be how long have you had that car? I have had it for five days. Or we can say when did you buy that car? I bought it five days ago. Notice that five days ago is a specific time in the past. 2. How long have you moved here? Incorrect. Correct. How long have you lived here or how long have you been living here? Since January. Or when did you move here? I moved here in January. 3. How long have you gotten married? Incorrect. When did you get married? I got married last June. How long have you been married? We have been married for a year. Final notes. Note the differences between how long have you and how long were you. How long were you in Kansas? This means you're not in Kansas anymore. So for example, I moved to Kansas four months ago, then I moved out of Kansas two months ago. I was there for two months. This was totally in the past. How long have you been in Kansas? This means you are still in Kansas. I've been here for six months. I'm still in Kansas. Or I have been here since April. Four months ago until now, including now. Four can be used in both cases, but since can only be used with the present perfect tense. Ready for some practice? Indicate whether these are correct or incorrect. Feel free to pause the video if you'd like more time for the exercise. Here's the answer key. How long have you arrived here? Incorrect. It should be, how long have you been here? Or when did you arrive here? Two. When did you get back from your vacation? OK. Three. How long have they gotten engaged? Incorrect. It should be, how long have they been engaged? Or when did they get engaged? Four. When have you met Mrs. Robinson? No, that's incorrect. When did you meet Mrs. Robinson? Five. He has purchased that car five months ago. Incorrect. He purchased that car five months ago. We use the past tense because it's indicating a particular or specific time in the past. Five months ago. Six. They have been divorced since September. OK. Seven. How long have you had that new bicycle? OK. Eight. When have you started working at your new job? No, that's incorrect. When did you start working at your new job? Or how long have you been working at your new job? Nine. How long has the baby been asleep? OK. Ten. When has Mina become a veterinarian? No, that's incorrect. When did Mina become a veterinarian? Hope that was helpful. Remember to give us a thumbs up if you learned from this video. And don't forget to subscribe to our channel. Thanks for watching. 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