# "Давно" на английском



## Humbert-Humbert

Здрасьте!
Друзья, помогите пожалуйста, не могу разобраться как по-английски сказать давно?

Правильно ли это?
_Они давно хотели переименовать компанию.
They have long sought to change a name of the company._


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## dePrades

for a long time with present perfect continuous?

They have been soughting to change the name of the company for a long time.

That's my trial, but let's see what the others say


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## rusita preciosa

Humbert-Humbert said:


> _They have long sought to change a name of the company._



(I'd say *the* name though)

P.S. DePrades, you need to check the conjugation of "seek" , otherwise i like your suggestion too, depending on what the OP wants to say.


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## morzh

Humbert-Humbert said:


> Здрасьте!
> Друзья, помогите пожалуйста, не могу разобраться как по-английски сказать давно?
> 
> Правильно ли это?
> _Они давно хотели переименовать компанию.
> They have long sought to change _athe_ name of the company._



Otherwise it's fine. (the company is a known company, from the context, so it is "the").

Although personally I would go for the plain-n-simple "They wanted to rename the company for a long time".


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## dePrades

rusita preciosa said:


> (I'd say *the* name though)
> 
> P.S. DePrades, you need to check the conjugation of "seek" , otherwise i like your suggestion too, depending on what the OP wants to say.



They've been seeking to change the name of the company for a long time.

I think that using the present perfect continuous here helps to understand the duration of the process... sounds more natural to me (although I'm not a native English!)


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## Pavel88

_They've wanted to rename the company for some time now_. That's what I would say or like morzh said go for the plain-n-simple and just say "They wanted to rename the company for a long time."


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## morzh

I also wanted first to put it like this, "for some time now", but then I thought it did not reflect the degree of "давно". Though now, thinking of it, it probably does too.


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## Albionneur

_They HAVE *LONG* BEEN *INTENDING to* change the name of the company.

_http://www.google.com/search?sclien...rce=hp&q="LONG+BEEN+INTENDING+TO"&btnG=Search


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## Pavel88

Yes that would be right too, but sounds pretty formal. I guess it just depends on how formally you want to render the sentence. And I think it's not quite the same as the original Russian. "Long been intending to" would be closer to "давно планировали" или "давно собирались делать что-то" по-моему. And it depends on what exactly you're emphasizing. The duration, the renaming, or the degree of wanting, etc. So I'd stick with something like "They've long wanted to rename the company", "They've wanted to rename the company for a long time", "They've wanted to rename the company for some time now", или что-то в этом роде 

Hope that helps


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## Humbert-Humbert

Hi people!
Firstly, thanks for *"the"* correction))

All the options are interesting, but _"they've been seeking"_ sounds too heavy. And _"for a long time"_ means rather _"долго"_, _"надолго"_, but I need _"давно"_.
It would rather fit in such sentences: _"I've been waiting here for a long time"_ or _"I haven't heard of him for a long time"_ 

I think the best choice so far is *"for some time now"*. But it confuses me because it implies rather short period time like hours/days/weeks but not months and years.

But anyway thank you all for your efforts.


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## Pavel88

Humbert-Humbert said:


> All the options are interesting, but _"they've been seeking"_ sounds too heavy. And _"for a long time"_ means rather _"долго"_, _"надолго"_, but I need _"давно"_.
> It would rather fit in such sentences: _"I've been waiting here for a long time"_ or _"I haven't heard of him for a long time"_
> 
> I think the best choice so far is *"for some time now"*. But it confuses me because it implies rather short period time like hours/days/weeks but not months and years.



"*For some time now*" and "*for a long time*" can mean pretty much the same thing depending on the context. It's like the difference between *некоторое время и надолго*. It just depends on what exactly you're emphasizing. 

And you're right давно would literally be something like "*long ago*" or "*way back*", but in the sentence you gave I would still say something like *"They've wanted to rename the company for some time now"* or "*They've long wanted to rename the company.*" Instead of a more literal translation of "Long ago they wanted to rename the company." Because in this last more literal translation, using "long ago", it implies that the wanting was in the past, but perhaps not now, unless you add an additional clause stating so e.g., "long ago they wanted to rename the company, and tomorrow the new name will finally go into effect." If, however, you use something like "they've wanted to do .... for some time now, or for a long time", they decided in the past, and you can specify how far in the past if you like, and they still want to do whatever it is as of now. 

Hope that was clear, and that I understood the meaning you were trying to get across


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## Pavel88

Or, if you wanted to sound, not archaic, but slightly old fashioned, in my opinion  Though I'm a fan of old words and phrases for dramatic effect, you could render it thus, "*They've wanted to rename the company for ages now.*"


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## Humbert-Humbert

Thanks, Pavel, I think you've clarified the issue.

Indeed, the sentence, I came up with, supposed to mean that _they've been considering renaming the company all the time and it's possible they would finally rename it now_.

Cheers!


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## morzh

Pavel

Also, to underscore the length of the time "for some time now" may become "for QUITE some time now". This will make it a pretty long time.


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## Pavel88

morzh said:


> Pavel
> 
> Also, to underscore the length of the time "for some time now" may become "for QUITE some time now". This will make it a pretty long time.



Yes you're right that would be a good translation too  Isn't translating fun?


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## morzh

Pavel88 said:


> Yes you're right that would be a good translation too  Isn't translating fun?



Yes it is. Especially when you are at a level where you start translating nuances to the point of fine-honing them.
Some would call it nitpicking.  The perfect is the enemy of the good'nuff.


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