be + days/weeks + prepositional phrase or adverb phrase.
I've run into the following sentences while reading subtitles of a movie.

● We are two days behind.
● We were weeks in the doldrums.

How do I understand this?
I sometimes see sentences with this structure. Is it standard English?
I tried searching Internet for the page where this rule of grammar is explained, but I couldn't find.
Could you possibly explain about this or give me a link to the webpage containing the instruction on this?

Question

be + days/weeks + prepositional phrase or adverb phrase.
I've run into the following sentences while reading subtitles of a movie.

● We are two days behind.
● We were weeks in the doldrums.

How do I understand this?
I sometimes see sentences with this structure. Is it standard English?
I tried searching Internet for the page where this rule of grammar is explained, but I couldn't find.
Could you possibly explain about this or give me a link to the webpage containing the instruction on this?

Answer

It's not really that complex, and yes it is standard English. Please don't assume something is slangy or idiomatic because you don't understand it yet. ;)

"We are behind." (ie. behind in your work, or behind schedule)
How far are we behind? (In the sense of time.)
"We are two days behind."

"We were in the doldrums."
How long were we in the doldrums? (Again, asking about time.)
"We were weeks in the doldrums."

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