Describing Time Periods “Hacer” with expressions of time.
Quick! (or should I say: ¡Rápidamente! Write 3 things that you want to do Now tell me how long you have wanted to do these things
Hace + time period + que + verb To say that something has been going on for a while, we use the above formula: Hace un año que quiero ir a Las Vegas I’ve wanted to go to Las Vegas for a year. Hace 45 minutos que espero la campana. I’ve been waiting for the bell for 45 minutes.
Hace + time period + que + verb This also works with the past tense: Hace dos años que entré a CHS It’s been two years since I started at CHS. Hace 9 años que estudié en España. It’s been 9 years since I studied in Spain. What if we want to ask a question?
¿Cuánto tiempo + hace + que + verb? Switch time period for ¿Cuánto tiempo…? ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que entraste a CHS? How long has it been since you started CHS? ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que estudias español? How long have you been studying Spanish? There’s a catch.
Preterite + hace + time period When you want to say ago, we use a different formula (we switch the verb and drop que) Estudié en España hace 8 años. I studied in Spain 8 years ago. Terminaron la secundaria hace 3 años. You finished middle school 3 years ago.
Time periods Años = years Meses = months Días = days Horas = hours Minutos = minutes Segundos = seconds
Remember those 3 things you wrote down? In Spanish, tell me how long you’ve been wanting to do those things.