davno

[Andrea Nelson]

John Dingley and fellow Seelangers:

I think the confusion may be with English rather than Russian.  If you are
 asking how to render
the English phrase "I have not smoked for a long time" (good for you by the way
 if this is true!)
then I believe you need a form of the present in Russian.  I would say "Ja davno
 ne kurju."  The
past tense in Russian would render the English "I had not smoked for a long
 time."  The issue is
with "have" versus "had."  The former places your action in the past but has it
 continuing into
the present.  The latter places it exclusively in the past.  In this case Wade
 is, in my opinion,
therefore, mistaken.

Andrea Nelson





=====
Andrea Nelson
800 Martin Avenue
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 USA
610-525-0541
email:   drannie_98 at yahoo.com
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com