Grammar 8.4: Expressing how long ago with "hace" and "que"

 

  • Again, I have no idea why your textbook sees fit to devote an entire grammar section to this.
     
  • Normal textbooks just teach this as part of a preterite section, and sometimes it gets taught in Spanish 3 when the imperfect tense gets presented.
     
  • Anyway, it's very simple.
     
  • It's just a question of learning the 3 different syntactic combinations your book presents in Capítulo 8 work. They are all correct, and they all mean the exact same thing.

Structure 1: 

Hace + [amount of time] + que + {subject noun or pronoun, but not always} + [verb in preterite]

  • There are numerous examples of this structure in Actividad 14 on textbook page 243, because it focuses on producing it.
  • Here is the model sentence: "Hace más de un año que Nayeli compitió con Kamal, su caballo favorito."
     
  • If I wanted to tell you all that I visited Chile for the first time 14 years ago, using this structure, that would be:
  • "Hace catorce años que visité Chile por primera vez.
     
  • To tell you I met my friend Kim 6 months ago, using this structure, that would be:
  • "Hace seis meses que conocí a mi amiga Kim".

Structure 2: 

Hace + [amount of time] + {subject noun or pronoun, but not always} + [verb in preterite]

Basically, just like Structure 1, but with no "que".
 

There are several examples of this in Actividad 13, found on textbook pages 242-243:

  • "Hace unos meses fui a México".
     
  • "Hace un año hice un viaje a Oaxaca".
     
  • "Hace unos días Eloy, Nayeli, Claudia y Ángela acamparon en Lake Tahoe".
     
  • "Hace tres años Rodrigo y su familia fueron a Europa".

Structure 3: 

{Subject noun or pronoun, but not always} + [verb in preterite] + hace + [amount of time]  

You can see an example of this in the model sentence for Ejercicio 7 on textbook page 256:

  • Lavé los platos hace una hora

 

Let's rework the example sentences from Structure 2, and make them into this structure--the only thing that changes is the syntax, not the meaning:

  • "Fui a México hace unos meses".
  • "Hice un viaje a Oaxaca hace un año".
  • "Eloy, Nayeli, Claudia y Ángela acamparon en Lake Tahoe hace unos días".
  • "Rodrigo y su familia fueron a Europa hace tres años".