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To describe events which began in the past which continue to the present.

I know that

"he has been hurt for 5 minutes" and "it has been tangled for 5 minutes" are correct

but what if we use the verb "get" which means "to become", then can we say

"he has been getting hurt for 5 minutes" and "it has been getting tangled for 5 minutes", RIGHT?

but sometimes people use the present perfect instead of the present perfect continuous to express the duration.

For example, instead of saying "I have been working here for 5 years", they will say "I have worked here for 5 years".

If that is the case, then can we say

"he has got hurt for 5 minutes" and "it has got tangled for 5 minutes"?

But if we say like that then people may think "has got" means "has" and they think the above 2 sentences are not correct.

For example, "I have got a car" means "I have a car"

But again, American says "he has gotten" not "he has got", so they may say the spelling is not correct. It should be

"he has gotten hurt for 5 minutes" and "it has gotten tangled for 5 minutes"?

This is VERY CONFUSING.

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Getting hurt normally refers to a single event (an injury), so we would say "He got hurt five minutes ago". Or are you thinking of being in pain - "His leg has been hurting for five minutes"? "He has been getting hurt for five minutes" suggests that he is being tortured, which is presumably not what you want to say.

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  • What about "He hurts now" and "He hurt 5 minutes ago". Can we say them? – Tom Sep 13 '20 at 0:56
  • @Tom I would understand both as “he is/was in pain”; is that what you mean? – Anton Sherwood Sep 13 '20 at 3:08
  • @Tom Are you looking for It’s been five minutes since he got hurt? – tchrist♦ Sep 13 '20 at 3:24

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