a long time ago
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Register: neutral
Examples
The story begins a long time ago.Câu chuyện bắt đầu từ rất lâu rồi.
Tatoeba sentence #1304623 (CC BY 2.0 FR, tatoeba.org, retrieved 2026-07-31)
Sources & notes
Everyday learner phrase (CEFR A2); level cross-referenced from published learner lists. Definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “a long time ago” mean?
At a point far in the past Literally: a long time ago
Is “a long time ago” formal or informal?
a long time ago is generally neutral.