Present vs the present perfect continous

Portuguese Questions Grammar
1

Hello, I have a card that is:
Há quanto tempo trabalhas aqui? “How long have you worked here?”
Is there a specific reason why the present is being used here instead of the present perfect continuous? I think it would be Ter + gerund?

2

Talvez Joseph tenha uma resposta melhor, mas para mim - é assim que as coisas são. E a resposta seria: Trabalho aqui há dois anos. Bem-vindo a Portugês!

BTW Puedes usar el gerundio en español: Llevo dos años trabajando aquí.

3

@mehzpez, the English present perfect (used in the example you gave) has all of these possible translations into Portuguese:

Present Perfect

  • I have been to this place before. = Eu (já) estive neste lugar antes. (pretérito perfeito)
  • We have never met . = Nós nunca nos conhecemos. (pretérito perfeito)
  • I have lived here since I was born. = Eu vivo aqui desde que nasci. (simple present)
  • I have worked here for ten years. = Eu trabalho aqui há dez anos. (simple present)
  • I haven’t had time to look at this. = Não tenho tido tempo para olhar para isto. (pretérito perfeito composto!)
  • I have travelled a lot lately . = Eu tenho viajado muito ultimamente. (also pretérito perfeito composto)
    …

The translation into Portuguese depends on context and also on what sounds most natural for us. English and Portuguese verb tenses simply work differently, so to some extent (or to a large extent), as @samarang put it, we just have to accept that that’s how it is.

In your example, the Portuguese simple present (trabalho) is the most suitable option. The Portuguese pretérito perfeito composto (ter + infinitive → tenho trabalhado) doesn’t sound natural here, and it generally doesn’t fit in any cases where it’s directly followed by the temporal haver (e.g. “há X anos”). However, you could eventually use it in adapted sentences such as:

  • Eu tenho trabalhado aqui desde há dois anos (I’ve been working here for two years - literally, “…since two years ago”)
  • Eu tenho trabalhado aqui nos últimos dois anos (I’ve been working here for the past two years)
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4

E não se esqueça da frase, “andar a + inf”. Por exemplo: “Nós andamos a sair há três meses.” – We have been going out for three months.

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