How to indicate length of time?

[northsider1983]

How would I say, or what would the phase/particle be to indicate a length of time? For example: I have been studying Japanese for 3 months.

Japanese: 日本語を
I: 私
3 months: ３か月？
have been studying: ?

 

[Charles Barkley]

Continuous past (something you have been doing for some time and are still doing) is ～しています。

So: （私は）三ヶ月日本語を勉強しています。

 

[tanhql]

you can also use ばかり.

http://www.adammil.net/japanese/esog/v49_bakari_.html
read sentence 6.

 

[masaegu]

I would not use 'bakari' in that sentence unless I wanted to sound unusually casual. The word would give the sentence a highly Japanese-like character that the native speaker would not expect to come from someone who has been studying Japanese only for three months.

 

[Elizabeth]

you can also use ばかり.
ばかり (bakari) - Adam Milazzo's Personal Site
read sentence 6.

Bakari with counters refers to a rough extent or approximate amount and is therefore equivalent to "about." It has nothing whatsoever to do with the core grammar involved in indicating a specific amount of time.

If it's necessary to imply a guess is being made "三ヶ月くらい" can be used much more normally.

 

[northsider1983]

ありがとう！ Thanks for the help