Learning English

Dan

Hi guys! Dan from BBC Learning English here with this week's Learner Question. Find out what it is after this.

OK! This week's learner question comes from Jian in China, who says:’I always make the same mistake when I talk with my English friend. ‘How many times?’ and ‘How long?’ always confuse me.’

Ok, Jian. Well, how long is used to ask questions about amounts or periods of time. For example, how long have you been waiting?, or, how long was your stay in Malaysia?, or how much longer can you stay?
Note that this construction is often used with the prepositions for or since in reply. So, how long have you been here?  I’ve been here for about an hour.

How long can also be used to talk about the measured length of something. For example, how long is your charging cable? …about 1 metre.

With how many times, you are enquiring about the specific number of occasions that something has happened. For example, how many times have you seen this film? How many times did the phone ring this morning?

Finally, it’s worth noting that the construction how often is more versatile and used more frequently than how many times. With how many times we often refer to something which occurred in the past, but how often can be past, present or future. For example, how often do you work?

I hope that answers your question Jian. Thank you very much for writing to us. If anybody else out there has a question for Learners’ Questions, you can email us on: learning.english@bbc.co.uk. Please remember to include Learners’ Questions in the subject box and your name and the country that you’re writing from. Now, we can’t answer every single message, guys, we just get too many. I’m very sorry, but we do read every single one. And for more information, go to our website: bbclearningenglish.com. That’s it for this week’s Learners’ Questions. I’ll see you next time. Bye.