Saluton al ĉiuj!

I'm having trouble expressing something in Esperanto, and I'm not even quite sure what this particular verb tense is called in English. I think it's past-progressive, or past perfect or present perfect or something like that.

What I want to say is: "I have been learning Esperanto for two months".

So would it be... "Mi estas/estis lernanta/lerninta Esperanton dum/ekde du monatoj"?

I remember reading about this somewhere on this site last month, but now I can't find that particular resource again, and I have no idea how to form this verb tense.

"Mi lernas Esperanton ekde 2 monatoj" seems way too simple to me.

Dankon pro via helpo!

"Mi lernas Esperanton ekde 2 monatoj" seems way too simple to me.

I would probably say "Mi lernas Esperanton dum 2 monatoj" but yes, its that simple.

If you were to use participles, you would use "estas" because it is decribing your current state ("estis" would be more "I had been learning...) , and "lernanta" because the action is not completed yet. ("lerninta" would be more "I have learned..."). So it would end up being "Mi estas lernanta...", which I've found, is usually the same as "-as." Esperanto doesn't exactly mesh with English. "-is," "-as," "-os," have to do when whatever you talking about is happening, and "-int," "-ant," "-ont," almost means "done," "being done," and "going to be done."

All those quotes and commas made that paragraph kind of crazy, I hope you understood that

Also, "ekde" means "since" so it has to be a point or period (no matter how long or short) in time, whereas "dum" means "during." So you use "ekde" if you said "ekde oktobro 15a (october 15th)" or "ekde infanaĝo (childhood)."

I hope I helped, Stefano B!

gxi estas tute bona!

mi lernas esperanton ekde du monatoj. (i would say it that way).

if you want to say, that you really have been studying (all the time), you could say:

mi estas lernanta esperanton ekde du monatoj.

i wonder if that would work too:
mi lernantas esperanton ekde du monatoj

i, as a not native english speaker have to admint, that the tenses are somewhat weird in english :=)

cxio plej bona!
gxis

In most cases, complex verb tenses are unnecessary and should probably be avoided. In this case, instead of the needlessly complex "I have been learning" you could just as easily say (in English too) "I started learning Esperanto two months ago." That would be rendered in Esperanto as "Mi komencis lerni Esperanton antaŭ du monatoj." The advantage of that way of saying it is that, instead of requiring your listener/reader to decode a fancy verb construction, the verb "komenci" is more immediately recognizable.

Thank you for the responses, guys! That was all very helpful.

T0dd:In most cases, complex verb tenses are unnecessary and should probably be avoided. In this case, instead of the needlessly complex "I have been learning" you could just as easily say (in English too) "I started learning Esperanto two months ago."

I am sorry but I have to disagree. Complex verb tenses add nuance. And what would we languaje lovers do without nuance? I have been learning esperanto for 2 months does NOT mean I started learning esperanto two months ago.
I started learning and then I stopped?
"I have been learning" expresses continuity. More like I started and continued learning during these two months without interruption.

Stefano B: "Mi lernas Esperanton ekde 2 monatoj" seems way too simple to me.

I think the problem that Stefano faced at first was due to direct translation. Different languages express things differently. And some languages cannot express certain things in the same way (that is why I constantly code-switch hehehe).
Anyway, I am not an advanced esperanto speaker so why should I even opine, right? But I am really opinionated hehe.

At first I thought that I preferred

pianopimp27:I would probably say "Mi lernas Esperanton dum 2 monatoj" but yes, its that simple.

Dum carries the continuity feeling that present perfect continuous or progressive carries (by the way that's the name of the tense in english). Dum 2 montajo makes me feel that during those 2 months one actually has been learning

donmiguel: mi lernas esperanton ekde du monatoj. (i would say it that way).

However ekde carries the "starting" part that it is also implied in the present perfect progressive.

In any case, the bottom line is that esperanto tenses are different than english tenses and nobody should be surprised if the solution in Eo sounds simple. Isn't it supposed to be that way?

Thanks for bearing with me
Ed