{"id":5924,"date":"2012-11-09T08:00:28","date_gmt":"2012-11-09T13:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/?p=5924"},"modified":"2012-11-07T11:52:23","modified_gmt":"2012-11-07T16:52:23","slug":"how-to-use-hace-to-mean-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/how-to-use-hace-to-mean-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"How to use “hace” to mean “ago”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u00a1Hola! \u00bfC\u00f3mo est\u00e1n las cosas?<\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/strong> to mean “ago” in English so I decided to write a post about it. Hope you like it!<\/p>\n

We use the verb form hace<\/strong> to say how long something has been happening or how long we have been doing something:<\/p>\n

Hace<\/strong> dos a\u00f1os que estudio espa\u00f1ol. Ya he mejorado bastante.
\nI have been studying Spanish for two years. I have improved a lot.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hace<\/strong> tres meses que trabajo aqui. Me gusta mucho.
\nI have been working here for three months. I like it a lot.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hace<\/strong> mucho tiempo que no la veo. Voy a llamarla esta noche.
\nI haven’t seen her for a long time. I’m going to call her tonight.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hace<\/strong> dos a\u00f1os que fumo. Yo s\u00e9, voy a dejarlo.
\nI have been smoking for two years. I know, I’m going to quit.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hace<\/strong> can also express the idea that something happened some time ago.<\/p>\n

Hace + time + activity<\/em><\/p>\n

Hace<\/strong> un a\u00f1o que empec\u00e9 a trabajar aqu\u00ed.
\nI started working here a year ago<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hace<\/strong> mucho tiempo que ella trabaj\u00f3 aqu\u00ed.
\nShe worked here a long time ago<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hace<\/strong> tres a\u00f1os que estuve en Europa. Me encant\u00f3.
\nI was in Europe three years ago<\/strong>. I loved it.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hace<\/strong> dos meses que dej\u00e9 de fumar. Creo que tom\u00e9 una buena decisi\u00f3n.
\nI quit smoking two months ago<\/strong>. I think I made a good decision.<\/em><\/p>\n

You can also say:<\/p>\n