I Have Been...

[nakriian]

How do I say "I have been..."

For example "I have been practicing"

ผมเคยฝึกฝนครับ or something like that?

I can say "I will practice", it is ผมจะฝึกฝนครับ

I can say "I am practicing", it is ผมกำลังฝึกฝนครับ

Just having trouble trying to figure out how to say "I HAVE BEEN practicing"

[sutnyod]

Yep. Kheuy is good.

reason for edit: found it better to add a "y"

Edited January 4, 2008 by sutnyod

[withnail]

เคย is more commonly used to express the phrase 'used to' or the present perfect tense with reference to experiences. As in, 'I used to practise a lot.'

The present perfect continuous would have to be expressed by the use of certain time phrases.

ช่วงนี้ผมฝึกหัดทุกวัน Recently I study every day/ (Recently) I have been studying every day.

Notice that in English the reference to time 'recently' could be omitted with the meaning still staying the same through use of this particular tense. With Thai it is the time references that give meaning which cannot be expressed through use of tense.

ผมเรียนภาษาไทยตั้งแต่๓ปีที่แล้ว I learn Thai since 3 years ago/I have been studying Thai for 3 years.

Edited January 4, 2008 by withnail

[nakriian]

ขอบคุณครับ ทุกคน

Anyone want to add any more sample sentences. The sample sentences like คุณwithnail gave are very helpful.

[meadish_sweetball]

Just having trouble trying to figure out how to say "I HAVE BEEN practicing"

ผมฝึกมา or, possibly ผมได้ฝึกมา is what I would use, I think.

When you add the มา at the end it shows that the foregoing verb occurred before you 'came (here, to this point)' and obviously the original usage of this verb refers to movement in space, but it can conveniently also refer to time in many cases.

As for the second one, usually ได้ placed before the main verb indicates something you 'receive' or 'get'... so I am not sure why I think it feels right here.

Perhaps one of our Thai members can explain the difference between ฝึกมา and ได้ฝึกมา as I am not 100% sure myself.

The present perfect continuous would have to be expressed by the use of certain time phrases.

ช่วงนี้ผมฝึกหัดทุกวัน Recently I study every day/ (Recently) I have been studying every day.

This is an excellent solution too, I hear that a lot.

[withnail]

Meadish's examples are also valid. Again we have to consider the connotations of the English sentence 'I have been practising.'

In both the examples I gave the present perfect continuous tense suggests that action has been taking place for a period of time in the past. However, no clue is given as to whether or not the speaker has finished practising or stopped studying Thai. It is also appropriate to use this tense for recently completed actions and I think this is why Meadish's examples are appropriate. A similar example could be:

ทำไมเขาถึงไม่ขับรถ Why doesn't he drive?

เขาดื่มเบียร์มา He's been drinking.