§466. Tenses of the Indicative

The Present with expressions of duration of time (especially iam diū, iam dūdum) denotes an action continuing in the present, but begun in the past (cf. § 471. b).

In this use the present is commonly to be rendered by the perfect in English:—

• iam diū īgnōrō quid agās (Fam. 7.9), for a long time I have not known what you were doing.
• tē iam dūdum hortor (Cat. 1.12), I have long been urging you.
• patimur multōs iam annōs (Verr. 5.126), we suffer now these many years. [The Latin perfect would imply that we no longer suffer.]
• annī sunt octō cum ista causa versātur (cf. Clu. 82), it is now eight years that this case has been in hand.
• annum iam audīs Cratippum (Off. 1.1), for a year you have been a hearer of Cratippus.
• adhūc Plancius mē retinet (Fam. 14.1.3), so far Plancius has kept me here.

Conative Present