live

Q: Is it correct to say "I am living here since five years."?

No — say "I have lived here for five years.". Learners often use the present continuous instead of the present perfect for actions that started in the past and continue now.

B1 Intermediate Oxford US //ˈɫaɪv// live

Archaic General-service Informal Slang

v. to have your home in a specific place or to be alive. You use this to talk about where you stay or how you spend your time.

v. to maintain life or to reside in a particular location. Intransitive — does not take a direct object when describing residence or existence.

SIMPLE

I live in a small apartment near the park.

CONTEXTUAL

Many young professionals choose to live in the city center to be closer to their offices and social hubs.

COMPLEX

The indigenous tribes have continued to live in harmony with the rainforest for centuries, developing a deep understanding of the local ecosystem without disrupting its delicate balance.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Etymology 1

From Middle English lefe, lifen, libbe, libben, live, luvien, lyven, from Old English libban, lifian (“to live; be alive”), from Proto-West Germanic libbjan, from Proto-Germanic libjaną (“to live”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to stick”). Cognates Cognate with Yola live (“to live”), North Frisian laawe, lawe, lewe, lewi, lewwe, lääwe (“to live”), Saterland Frisian lieuwje, líeuwje (“to live”), West Frisian libje (“to live”), Alemannic German lëëbe (“to live”), Cimbrian and Mòcheno lem (“to live”), Dutch leeven, leven (“to live”), German leben (“to live”), German Low German lęven (“to live”), Limburgish leve, léëve (“to live”), Luxembourgish liewen (“to live”), Vilamovian łaowa (“to live”), Yiddish לעבן (lebn, “to live”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål leve (“to live”), Faroese liva (“to live”), Icelandic lifa (“to live”), Norwegian Nynorsk leva, leve, liva (“to live”), Swedish leva (“to live”), Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌱𐌰𐌽 (liban, “to live”); also Latin lippus (“half-sighted, myopic”), Greek λίπος (lípos, “fat, tallow”), Lithuanian lipti (“to stick”), Bulgarian лепя́ (lepjá, “to glue, paste, stick; to plaster, smear”), Czech lepit (“to glue, stick”), Macedonian лепи (lepi, “to glue, stick”), Polish lepić (“to mold; to glue, paste; to stick”), Russian лепи́ть (lepítʹ, “to fashion, sculpt, shape”), Serbo-Croatian лепити, лије́пити, lépiti, lijépiti (“to glue, paste; to stick”), Slovak lepiť (“to stick”), Slovene lepiti (“to stick”), Ukrainian ліпити (lipyty, “to mould, shape”), Sanskrit लिप् (lip, “to anoint, smear; to defile, soil, taint”), रिप् (rip, “deceit, fraud; injury; enemy, traitor”).

Etymology 2

An apheretic form of alive.

Usage

The verb is intransitive; when specifying a location, it requires a preposition like 'in', 'at', or 'on'.

Pitfall

I am living here since five years.I have lived here for five years.Learners often use the present continuous instead of the present perfect for actions that started in the past and continue now.

Idioms24 entries