Hacer is a useful verb meaning "to Do or to Make."
Hacer is a Yo irregular Verb meaning that while the Yo form is irregular, the other conjugations are normal.
| Yo | Tú | Él, ella, usted | Nosotros | Ellos, ellas, ustedes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hago | haces | hace | hacemos | hacen |
Hacer is used in many expressions, including the weather. It is a common word used in questions, just as in English: ¿Qué haces? "What are you doing?"
I do homework: Hago la tarea.
I make sandwiches: Hago unos sándwiches.
The verb Hacer can be used to express "how long" you have been doing something
| hace quince minutos | for fifteen minutes |
| hace dos semanas | for two weeks |
| hace siete años | for seven years |
There are two ways to say how long you have been doing something using Hacer:
- Hace + a time expression + que + verb in the present tense -or-
- verb in the present tense + hace + a time expression
Notice that we need to use the word que when we put the Hacer time expression first (but we don't use que if the verb comes before the Hacer time expression.)
The time expression must be specific amount of time: a number of hours, weeks, day, months or years, etc. You cannot use time adverbs such as "yesterday" or "this morning".
| Estudio hace dos horas. | I've been studying for two hours. |
| Hace dos horas que estudio. | I've been studying for two hours. |
| ¿Cuánto (tiempo) hace que están casados? | How long have they been married? |
| Hace siete años que están casados. | They've been married seven years. |
| ¿Cuánto (tiempo) hace que conduces? | How long have you been driving? |
| Conduzco hace cuatro meses. | I've been driving for four months. |
| ¿Cuánto (tiempo) hace que juega Vershara al golf? | How long has Vershara been playing golf? |
| Hace siete años que Vershara juega al golf. | Vershara has been playing for seven years. |
Note: The use of tiempo in the question is optional. Students new to Spanish may want to use tiempo to help remember that the question is asking for an amount of time.
The verb Hacer also is used to express the concept of "ago."
To express ago, we simply change the tense of our verb from the Present to the Preterite
| hace diez segundos | ten seconds ago |
| hace quince minutos | fifteen minutes ago |
| hace tres días | three days ago |
| hace dos semanas | two weeks ago |
| hace cuatro meses | four months ago |
| hace siete años | seven years ago |
There are two ways to make an "ago" statement using Hacer:
-
Hace + a time expression + que + verb in the preterite past tense
| ¿Cuánto (tiempo) hace que se durmió el nené? | How long ago did the baby fall asleep? |
| Hace una hora que se durmió. | He fell asleep an hour ago. |
| ¿Cuánto hace que se fue la policía? | How long ago did the police (squad) leave? |
| Hace veinte minutos que se fue. | It (the police squad) left twenty minutes ago. |
| ¿Cuánto hace que lo viste? | How long ago did you see him? |
| Hace media hora que yo lo vi. | I saw him half an hour ago. |
-
verb in the preterite past tense + hace + a time expression
-or-
| ¿Se conocieron Mauricio y Débora hace cuánto (tiempo)? | How long ago did Mauricio and Deborah meet? (Mauricio and Deborah met how long ago?) |
| Se conocieron hace diez años. | They met ten years ago. |
| ¿Empezaste a montar a caballo hace cuánto (tiempo)? | How long ago did you begin to ride horses? |
| Empecé a hacerlo hace veintidós años. | I began to do it 22 years ago. |
| ¿Lo viste hace cuánto? | How long ago did you see him? |
| Lo vi hace media hora. | I saw him half an hour ago. |