"Hace ..." To Mean "ago"

Lesson Topics

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• Unit One
  • 1. Gender of Nouns I
  • 2. Gender of Nouns II
  • 3. Numbers: 1-10
  • 4. Plural Forms of Nouns
  • 5. Def. & Indef. Articles
  • 6. The Verb Form "Hay"
  • 7. Subject Pronouns
  • 8. Reg. Verbs I
  • 9. Reg. Verbs II
  • 10. Reg. Verbs III
  • 11. Adjectives I
  • 12. Adjectives II
  • 13. Days of the Week
  • 14. Numbers: 11-30
• Unit Two
  • 15. Ser and Estar I
  • 16. Ser and Estar II
  • 17. Ser and Estar III
  • 18. Ser and Estar IV
  • 19. Negation
  • 20. Questions
  • 21. Poss. Adjectives
  • 22. Tener, venir
  • 23. "Tener Que" and "Hay Que"
  • 24. Exp. with "Tener"
  • 25. Weather Expressions
  • 26. The Personal "a"
  • 27. Contractions
• Unit Three
  • 28. Stem-Changing Verbs: o:ue
  • 29. Stem-Changing Verbs: e:ie
  • 30. Stem-changing verbs: e:i
  • 31. Estar, Ir, Dar
  • 32. "Ir A" + Infinitive
  • 33. "Acabar De" + Infinitive
  • 34. "Volver A" + Infinitive
  • 35. Ordinal Numbers
  • 36. Months, Seasons, and Dates
  • 37. Comparisons of Inequality
  • 38. Comparisons of Equality
  • 39. Superlatives
• Unit Four
  • 40. Pronouns as Objects of Prepositions
  • 41. Dir. Object Pronouns I
  • 42. Dir. Object Pronouns II
  • 43. Dir. Object Pronouns III
  • 44. Ind. Object Pronouns I
  • 45. Ind. Object Pronouns II
  • 46. Ind. Object Pronouns III
  • 47. DO and IO Pronouns Together
  • 48. Verbs Like Gustar
  • 49. Present Progressive
  • 50. Verbs with Irregular 1st Persons
• Unit Five
  • 51. Saber vs Conocer / Pedir vs Preguntar
  • 52. Numbers: 31-1000
  • 53. Telling Time
  • 54. "Por" and "Para"
  • 55. Irreg. Comparatives
  • 56. Demonstratives
  • 57. Time Expressions with "Hacer"
  • 58. Possessive Pronouns
  • 59. Reflexive Verbs I
  • 60. Reflexive Verbs II
  • 61. Definite Article II
• Unit Six
  • 62. Pret. vs Imp. I
  • 63. Preterite I
  • 64. Imperfect I
  • 65. Preterite II
  • 66. Imperfect II
  • 67. Pret. vs Imp. II
  • 68. Preterite III
  • 69. Imperfect III
  • 70. Preterite IV
  • 71. Preterite V
  • 72. Preterite VI
  • 73. Pret. vs Imp. III
  • 74. Pret. vs Imp. Review
• Unit Seven
  • 75. "Hace ..." to mean "ago"
    • Basic Quiz
    • Mini-Test
    • Oral 1
    • Quiz 2
    • Quiz 3
    • Quiz 4
    • Oral 2
    • Test 2
    • Final
  • 76. Formation of Adverbs
  • 77. Subjunctive I: Introduction
  • 78. Subjunctive II: Conjugating regular and stem-changing verbs
  • 79. Subjunctive III: Verbs that change orthographically
  • 80. Subjunctive IV: Irregular verbs
  • 81. Subjunctive V: Desire
  • 82. Subjunctive VI: Ignorance, doubt
  • 83. Subjunctive VII: Impersonal Expressions
  • 84. Subjunctive VIII: Actions not yet completed
• Unit Eight
  • 85. Rel. Pronouns - que
  • 86. Rel. Pronouns - quien
  • 87. Rel. Pronouns - el que and lo que
  • 88. Rel. Adjective - cuyo
  • 89. Rel. Pronouns and Adjectives - Review
  • 90. Formal Commands
  • 91. Inform. Commands - tú
  • 92. Irreg. Commands - tú
  • 93. Using Object Pronouns with Commands
  • 94. Commands Review I
  • 95. Informal Commands - vosotros
  • 96. 1st Person Commands - nosotros
  • 97. Indirect Commands
  • 98. Commands Review II
• Unit Nine
  • 99. Future
  • 100. Past Participle
  • 101. Present Perfect
  • 102. Past Perfect (Pluperfect)
  • 103. Future Perfect
  • 104. Conditional
  • 105. Imperfect Subjunctive I
  • 106. Imperfect Subjunctive II
  • 107. Imperfect Subjunctive III
  • 108. Rules of Accentuation

“Hace” to Mean “Ago”

Notes:

1. The written lesson is below.
2. Links to quizzes, tests, etc. are to the left.

In a previous lesson, you learned to use the verb hacer with the present tense form of a verb to indicate the length of time an action has been taking place:

Hace + time + que + present tense form of the verb

Hace un año que estudio español. I have been studying Spanish for one year.

When the verb is in the preterite tense, a different meaning is conveyed:

Hace + time + que + preterite tense form of the verb

Hace un año que estudié español. I studied Spanish one year ago.

There is another way to convey the same idea:

Preterite tense form of the verb + hace + time

Estudié español hace un año. I studied Spanish one year ago.

Note the differences and similarities:

Hace un año que estudio español. I have been studying Spanish for one year.

Hace un año que estudié español. I studied Spanish one year ago.

Estudié español hace un año. I studied Spanish one year ago.

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