(no subject)

[gnomygnomy.livejournal.com]

How does one indicate that they did something in the past, and continue to do so? For example, "For years, I have been paying for my crimes/education/mistakes." Is it all about aspect again?

Comments

[kalaus.livejournal.com]

Use present tense. "Я уже не один год расплачиваюсь за свои преступления/ошибки/свое обучение."

[i-had-subway.livejournal.com]

это звучит не по-русски
правильнее сказать:
я всю жизнь расплачиваюсь за свои ошибки.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Please note that the working language of this community is English, so if you comment in Russian, provide translation.

[kalaus.livejournal.com]

Let me see if I get this straight.

Аre you saying that (1) "не один год" sounds "не по-русски"? Or are you saying that (2) "всю жизнь" (my whole life) is the adequate translation of "for years"?

[http://users.livejournal.com/celsium_/]

you can also say "годами расплачиваюсь...". means "by years", or "for years"

[kalaus.livejournal.com]

You could say that -- but that would have nothing to do with the sentence in question. Just as I said here (http://community.livejournal.com/learn_russian/416782.html?thread=6257934#t6257934), "годами" is used to refer to a recurring, rather than continuing, action.

[freedomcry.livejournal.com]

Прошли годы, а я всё ещё расплачиваюсь за свои ошибки. Or, "я так и не расплатился", etc.

There are no purely grammatical means to indicate an action in the past that still continues, so you have to employ lexical ones.

[canta.livejournal.com]

Годами я расплачиваюсь за свои ошибки

[kalaus.livejournal.com]

Nope. That would be the equivalent of "I pay for my mistakes with years."

If you meant to use "годами" as an indicator of time, then this would not be a very good example, as "годами" is used to specify a recurring action, as in "Он годами не звонит матери" (He goes years without as much as giving his mother a call).

[oko.livejournal.com]

Который год я расплачиваюсь... is also acceptable

[mirna-ya.livejournal.com]

I think it's mostly correct "Я уже много лет расплачиваюсь за свои... ошибки".

[zhp.livejournal.com]

In Russian you mostly use the Present to talk about an action which is still going on, regardless of when it started:
Я живу в Москве с рождения - I've been living in Moscow ever since I was born.
So, your sentnece would be sth like, "Вот уже много лет я расплачиваюсь за ...", and it's probably better to say "плачУ" if you are talking about money, because "расплачиваюсь" can have a curious shade of figurative meaning, "расплачиваюсь за свое образование" to me sounds a little bit like you're getting into a lot of difficult situations because you're so well-educated ;) (though maybe it's just me, and not the sentence itself..)