Lleva vs. está

Question

Is lleva interchangeable with está and what is the difference between the two? Thank you

Answer

Hola Emanuel
No, they are not interchangeable. Take for example one of the sentences from the lesson:

Carlos lleva trabajando en ese colegio dos años.
Carlos has been working in that school for two years.

If we try with the perfect tense of estar:

Carlos ha estado trabajando en ese colegio dos años.
Carlos has been working in that school for two years.

The sentence is grammatically correct but using estar doesn't imply that he is still working in the school, he may be, he may not be. With "lleva + gerund" it always implies that the event is still ongoing in the present.
So they are similar sentences but with a different nuance.
Hope this helps.
Inma

Answer

If we said: Carlos está trabajando en ese colegio desde hace dos años would't it imply he is still working there? or do we have to use the present tense: Carlos trabaja en ese colegio desde hace dos años?