# SBC: Не hasn't worked here a year and already wants to leave



## kloie

I would like to know how to sayНе hasn't worked here a year and already wants to leave.
in russian it is 
Он и года не работает здесь, а уже хочет уходить.
thanks in advance


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## Duya

There are many variations in word order, choice of tenses, and verb selection (hteti/želeti are mostly synonymous).  For example:

_Nije radio ovde ni godinu dana, a već želi da ode._

or:

_Ni godinu dana nije ovdje radio, a već bi htio otići._


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## kloie

Isn't it better to say On radi because he still works it is not yet in the past?


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## Duya

Both would be OK. From the second part if the sentence, which is in present, it is clear that he's still working here. We don't have a special tense for present perfect, as the context solves most ambiguities.


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## Duya

Now, a followup of my own: _Ni_ in this sentence makes a world of difference:

_Ni godinu dana ne radi ovde._ 'He hasn't been working here for a full year', i.e. He's been working here for ten months, but not longer.

versus

_Godinu dana ne radi ovde._ 'He hasn't been working here for a year', i.e. He used to work here, but not since the last year.

How do other languages solve that ambiguity? How is it clearly expressed in English?


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## Tassos

Duya said:


> How is it clearly expressed in English?



None of the translations of _ni_ can be used here, so you have to employ other ways in order to give the proper meaning.
So 
_Ni godinu dana ne radi ovde. - He works there for *less* than a year._
_Godinu dana ne radi ovde. - It's more than a year that he hasn't worked there.

_As for other languages go, in Greek if you invert the word order the first one can be translated word-by-word, while in the second one it's trickier (you have to change both the word order and the tense to present perfect and a couple of other things). In Italian word-by-word translation of the English sentences I gave you must work.


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## Vanja

_Ni godinu dana ne radi ovde _~ Not a year has passed since he was employed. 
_Ni godinu dana nije radio ovde_. ~ Not a year has passed since he left.



> _Godinu dana ne radi ovde. - It's more than a year that he hasn't worked there._


You don't know if it is less/ whole/ more than a year, it's "about" a year.


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## Tassos

Vanja said:


> You don't know if it is less/ whole/ more than a year, it's "about" a year.


_More than a year_ means he hasn't worked there for a year and a day, a year and a week, a year and a month etc.
_About a year means_ he hasn't worked there for a year and a day, a year and a week, a year and a month _but also_ 11 months, 11 months and 20 days or something like that. If you choose the second alternative, it sounds better like:

_He hasn't worked there for about a year._


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## Vanja

Ne sitničarimo . Say a year, odokativno.


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