used in expressions of time with the simple past tense to show how far in the past something happened（与动词的一般过去时连用）以前- two weeks/months/years ago两周／两月／两年以前
- The letter came a few days ago.这封信是几天前寄来的。🔊🔊
- She was here just a minute ago.刚才她还在这儿。🔊🔊
- a short/long time ago不久／很久以前
- How long ago did you buy it?这东西你是多久以前买的？🔊🔊
- It was on TV not (so) long ago.电视不（很）久以前播出了这个节目。
- Scientists think there was water on Mars a long time ago.科学家认为，很久以前，火星上就有水。
- He stopped working some time ago (= quite a long time ago).好久以前他就不工作了。🔊🔊
- They're getting married? It's not that long ago (= it's only a short time ago) that they met!他们要结婚啦？他们刚认识不久嘛！🔊🔊
It is not correct to use ‘since’ in this sentence: It's not long ago since they met . You can only use ‘since’ if you leave out ago: It's not long since they met. Topics Timea1Word OriginMiddle English ago, agone, past participle of the obsolete verb ago ‘pass’, used to express passage of time.