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Татьяна Мурукинаasked for translation hace 7 años
How to translate? (ru-en)

Его лицо было покрыто густой щетиной; было видно, что он не брился несколько дней.

Author’s comment

Как правильно: "he hadn't shaved" или "he hadn't been shaving"?

User translations (1)

  1. 1.

    His face was covered with a thick stubble. He clearly hadn’t shaved for several days.

    translation added by ⁌ ULY ⁍
    Gold ru-en
    4

Discussion (10)

Towe Patoncecomadded a comment hace 7 años

Uly, why don't you use "he hadn't been shaving"?

⁌ ULY ⁍added a comment hace 7 años

Because of FOR SEVERAL DAYS. If you don’t give a timespan, then you can say: It was obvious that he hadn’t been shaving.” But since you have несколько дней, the past perfect implies “not one time” in several days.

Towe Patoncecomadded a comment hace 7 años

thank you Uly. :))))

Though it looks very difficult for me and I didn't understand it properly

⁌ ULY ⁍added a comment hace 7 años

Let me try to explain it better. You can look at someone and say: “You haven’t been eating” because they’re thin. Or “You haven’t been shaving” because they have stubble. Or “You haven’t been showering” because they stink. The perfect progressive already means “for several days/for some time/lately” so you don’t have to specify these. But if you DO specify for how long, you have to use the past perfect because now it means that they haven’t done something even one time (=simple tense, not progressive) during a specific timespan.

Towe Patoncecomadded a comment hace 7 años

oh, I think I got it!!!
I haven't been eating/ I haven't eaten since yesterday
when I saw him last time he hadn’t been shaving/ when I saw him last time he hadn’t shaved for weeks

Towe Patoncecomadded a comment hace 7 años

And these sentences are the same in some point.

⁌ ULY ⁍added a comment hace 7 años

Very good! That’s exactly what it means. When you “restrict” the timeframe, you use a “plain” tense to express “not once.”

⁌ ULY ⁍added a comment hace 7 años

They’re the same, except that with the progressive past perfect, you don’t have to specify for how long.

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