¡Hola! ¿Cómo están las cosas?

I’m here in Nashua, NH, and I was talking to a Spanish friend the other day and I tried to take notes of some expressions he used when he was talking. One that caught my attention was the use of hace to mean “ago” in English so I decided to write a post about it. Hope you like it!

We use the verb form hace to say how long something has been happening or how long we have been doing something:

Hace dos años que estudio español. Ya he mejorado bastante.
I have been studying Spanish for two years. I have improved a lot.

Hace tres meses que trabajo aqui. Me gusta mucho.
I have been working here for three months. I like it a lot.

Hace mucho tiempo que no la veo. Voy a llamarla esta noche.
I haven’t seen her for a long time. I’m going to call her tonight.

Hace dos años que fumo. Yo sé, voy a dejarlo.
I have been smoking for two years. I know, I’m going to quit.

Hace can also express the idea that something happened some time ago.

Hace + time + activity

Hace un año que empecé a trabajar aquí.
I started working here a year ago.

Hace mucho tiempo que ella trabajó aquí.
She worked here a long time ago.

Hace tres años que estuve en Europa. Me encantó.
I was in Europe three years ago. I loved it.

Hace dos meses que dejé de fumar. Creo que tomé una buena decisión.
I quit smoking two months ago. I think I made a good decision.

You can also say:

• Empecé a trabajar aquí hace un año.
• Ella trabajó aqui hace mucho tiempo.
• Estuve en Europa hace tres años.
• Dejé de fumar hace dos meses.

Learning tip!

When you are studying Spanish or watching a movie, listening to a song or reading text, pay attention to when hace is used to express time and try to write it down. It’s very helpful and it is a good source for reviewing material afterwards.

Por hoy es todo, nos vemos prontito.

Want more free resources to learn Spanish? Check out the other goodies we offer to help make your language learning efforts a daily habit.