It's been a long time: Present Simple, Perfect x Simple Past

Está correto falar "It's been a long time we don't talk to each other"
Ou então "it's been a long time we don't see each other" ?

Sei que posso dizer " it's been a long time since we talked to each other"
Mas gostaria de saber se posso usar a frase sem o SINCE e com o simple presente. Está ok ou está incorreto?

Obrigado.

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Great question, Marco!

I'd like to add to what Donay has already said. It's important to think of context here: two people who might not have seen each other for a long time. Maybe they were friends in college and are running into each other on the street...

If you want to use the idea without "since", you may have to switch the sentence around and make it negative. In this case you have to use the Present Perfect and NOT Past Simple, and you still can't use the Present Simple:
"It's been a long time since we talked to each other"
EX SWITCHED: "We haven't talked to each other for a long time." / "We haven't spoken to each other for a long time." (a long period of time has passed since the last time the two spoke to each other, and now they are talking to each other for the first time)

NOT

"We didn't talk to each other for a long time." / "We didn't speak to each other for a long time." (but now we do speak to each other on a regular basis)

The meaning changes completely in this situation. See explanations for the differences in Present Perfect and Past Simple for an explanation.

Whenever you start talking about Present Perfect, you're going to have a lengthy explanation. Ugh, I wish English didn't have the tense in the first place. It would make teaching it to Brazilians a lot easier ;-)!

I hope this has been somewhat helpful!
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Dicas:

A expressão "it's been a long time" (faz muito tempo) não é correta quando combinada com o simple present. Frases como ''it's been a long time (since)we don't talk to each other" ou ''it's been a long time (since) we don't see each other'', não são recomendadas e não fazem sentido em inglês natural.

Você poderia dizer "it's been a long time since we saw each other", "it's been a long time since we last saw each other" ou ainda "it's been a long time since we've seen each other". Ou seja, faça uso do simple past ou present perfect, mas não do simple present.


Veja agora comentários importantes feitos por falantes nativos do idioma no Wordreference UK / USA sobre o assunto.
I would say that the simple past is needed in writing.

Examples:

It's a long time since I had roast beef for Sunday lunch.
It's been a long time since I visited Madame Tussauds.
It's ages since I went to a discotheque.

But in speech you will also hear the perfect tense: It's a long time since I've been to a discotheque.
I could easily say or write

It's been a long time since I have seen... or
It's been a long time since I saw...
1. It's a long time since I saw you.
2. It's a long time since I've seen you.
3. It's been a long time since I saw you.
4. It's been a long time since I've seen you.

They all sound correct to me. Number 4 is what I say: It's been a long time since I've seen you, Pieanne. Where have you been? You might want to throw in "last" in 1 and 3: "It's a long time since I saw you last" or "It's been a long time since I last saw you." But they are ok without the "last." Acually, what I'm most likely to say is "Hey P. it's been a long time. Gimme five, girl."

Bons estudos!